Spring Creek: Brown's Flats Poem by GORDON GILHULY

look he said there is still

some ice here just a thin

layer though it's been

eaten away from below

by the water you know so that

now there's a shell to

protect it

(this being their first time and tentative-coated)



it's still there even though it seems winter

was a long time ago

here at the shadowed corner where

the spring creek makes sudden turns and

laughs in restrained tones underneath

later there is open water as the creek

escapes cover reaches out to the pale

fields makes promises appointments

(and he was wary of sunshine)



some fugitive ice dreaming of endless

winter clings to creek-side rocks

is betrayed weeps it can't last

long he says immersed in light

and incipient heat I'll bet

it will be gone if we come back

and check tomorrow

(had been lured by siren songs of spring before)



a small bird sings on a winter-

blasted branch her smile sunlight

on the quiet pool just beyond

the next turn

(still a believer)