no hummingbirds

 

signs of the changing year no tropic birds
hover outside my window over flowers
the air is clear above the city's towers

the cars move slowly in their morning herds
the shivering bear in deepest forest cowers
signs of the changing year no tropic birds

more here than comes across in normal words
we wait and wait for soft and warming showers
and wonder at the failing of our powers
signs of the changing year no tropic birds

restless the gleam

 

the world is shaped by word as well as act
this golden light reminds us of the time
before the thought we have to see the fact

what we've gained here you once sorely lacked
it's too long since we heard the tower bell chime
the world is shaped by word as well as act

the town we said was safe has long been sacked
its walls all rendered down to ash and lime
before the thought we have to see the fact

we sign our names with haste to the compact
in fear of horrors wars and simple crime
the world is shaped by word as well as act

the path we've taken is the one you tracked
uphill and downhill through the mud and slime
before the thought we have to see the fact

there will be some who cannot treat or pact
laughing when they observe you in your prime
the world is shaped by word as well as act
before the thought we have to see the fact

not on this night the proper time

 

we find ourselves at north wind's back
not one of us on honest track
beyond our hands the sail is slack
becalmed we face a new attack

a kind of flower awaits the sun
we let the night complete its run
days full of light and work we shun
we have to speak and then we're done

a hint of winter in the breeze
dread hangs in shadow of the trees
the glass is drunk down to the lees
beings arrive our hearts to freeze

rend us before we have to pack
the phaser is not set on stun
and cold's not measured in degrees
no one may hear the final chime