Until winter
turned to rain

and the cardinal pair
returned

to do their songs
and dance in the cherry tree

outside my window
and lay their speckled eggs,

our fear
of death and debt
had drummed at the door

and turned the tight knob
of icy rage
that gripped our raggedness

until winter turned to blessed rain
dissolving our despair.

© by Marsha Foss.
Used with the author’s permission.