GOLD

Wood frog eggs
cling to branches
in icy waters
as fiddleheads
push through leaves
flat with the weight
of deep snow
dwarf ginseng begs
me to watch my feet
and marsh marigolds
splash yellow flowers
through a wetland
vibrating in green
so long in coming.

It is a cruel trick of Nature
to shower us with so much abundance
after so lean a time
and then take it all away again.

Gold rises
from the roots
of an old apple tree
flowers
and says,
"EAT!"