March Triptych

God designed the month of March to show people who don't drink what a hangover feels like. -- Garrison Keillor (2010)

Eye

Dream hands
claw the shift
ing field
dig in

That which is
can be known
without open
ing the eye

Reach

My hands scoop
to my face clear water
rolls through fingers
down over itself

I catch color
in the formless
splashes, each
drop topaz

I always reach
for what
cannot
be held

This day like
no other
this moment gone
as I grasp it

Hold

A single crust
of snow left over
from October
refuses to melt

I am amazed
how the earth
swells like
a black sponge

Opens at
thaw's edge
to take
more in

There is
reason
to hold
on

To hold what
we may
as close as
we can

Nothing
resists this
yearning to be
made new

In this
we are
all the
same

Even after
long winter
life stirs
in the last ice