Melt

Deep Winter Ice undoubtedly feels itself to be
solid and cohesive  Holding through even the Sunny
days of Winter  Noting without concern
the water flowing beneath ....

Deep Winter Ice .... Looks  like it will hold us
when we step onto it  And for a moment This is true
And then there becomes a time When our steps
must become cautious and we hang back

The Ice itself notices The thinness That it is feeling
The way that water moving beneath them feels
swifter and  Less languid more urgent .... And that Sun
While welcomed by the birds that are singing now

And the trees that are somehow crackling  Is making
The ice also crack Crack apart crack open
The thin places breaking Washing away .... ....
I wonder how that is To be the Ice

I wonder if the Ice Understands that it is simply part
of the River And in a moment held by circumstance
And then released .... .... I watch the shifting of the Ice
on the River And feel its flow clunky still .... Will that Ice make

a journey to a more open space or will it simply Become
River before it gets there And even as I imagine that expanse
of Water in my mind's eye I realize That Ice or Water
The River Has opened itself To this new horizon .... .... ​