A Celebration of the Season Ahead

We’ve made it through another winter

into the start of spring’s renewal again, the earth

warming and the snow and the cold receding,

and we are readying ourselves for summer.

We are taking one day at a time, pacing ourselves,

taking it slow, putting the garden back together

and opening up the summer home, spring cleaning.

And so, to celebrate today, in anticipation

of a new season, I’d like an ice cream cone,

that proverbial summer treat, something simple,

like chocolate or, maybe, more exotic, daring, strawberry,

cold on my tongue, licking around and around the ice

cream before it melts, savoring it, catching a stray drip

slowly sliding down a waffle cone, my preference,

an edible dish, no spoon required. It’s nothing fancy, no

hot fudge sundae or banana split, just something simple

to carry with me easily down to the water’s edge, the ice

breaking up and shrinking, returning to the lake, down

to the water’s edge to watch the Mergansers, Mr. and Mrs.,

newly arrived, and the loons, a homecoming, diving

below the surface, silent, to feed on the fish, more active

now, like us, freed from under the thick ice melting above;

a slow treat, this ice cream cone, an excuse to linger,

to celebrate the season ahead, the warmth

of the summer sun and a fire in the pit at sunset burning.