A Spring Frieze

A warm breeze blows across the land

Dissipating winter’s anger

Returning bird songs stir a yearning

To search the beginning of life on

A mountain slope as the snow melts

Exposing patches of earth where life begins

The Glacier Lily bulb awakens

Two long green leaves emerge releasing

A bundle of brilliant yellow petals

Taking their first breath of mountain air

Sitting on a boulder near the tree line

Looking out beyond the mountains

A flat lowland lake is covered with migrating birds

At my feet a quail clad in

Dappled earth-coloured feathers

Slowly and innocently approaches

Looking for spears of green grass

The Glacier Lily and quail

Never giving up the ability to survive

Depend on the sun to release them

From their winter repose

On a journey out of deep time

Adapting to nature’s rhythms

In seasons of change

They found the essence of living.

Hazel Ross