March

The coast of Maine is painted brown and gray
So starlings, grackles, gulls and crows
Have safe but somber feathers to display.
A more forgiving land would not foreclose
Some lusher oranges, blues or indigos.

A cardinal returns to perch alone,
Though it is weeks before a thaw.
His sudden scarlet jars like blood on bone,
And shows that evolution has a flaw
That spares some whimsy from the grip of law.

Copyright © 2003 A. M. Juster All rights reserved
from The Secret Language of Women
The University of Evansville Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission