I Will Stay

Bats spiral on slip streams

Slick spotted silver salmon leap cascades

 Monarch butterflies orange and black

 Fly south along the blue lakeshore

 Brave hummingbirds leave the north.

 Red and gold leaves swirl in airstreams

 Catch in the fur of a brown bear

The hair of red foxes

 And in my shaggy white hair.

 Migrations flow by but I will stay right here

 With the foxes and bears.  

The Wilderness Within

Basic Instincts

Goslings follow the leader—

waddling after an imprint.

Veed geese fly home

the arctic tern,

the hummingbird,

and bright eyed warblers

fly to their tropical havens.

Lake trout swirl at river mouths

then race upstream.

American eels return from the sea

to freshwater streams.

Undersea

lobsters march in single file—

they know exactly where

they are going.

And we humans also know

where we are going

God’s green imprint is

upon our hearts.

                           --Barbara Spring

excerpted from my book The Wilderness Within

This book is widely available at Amazon.com, bn.com and many bookstores.

Warbler Migrations around the Great Lakes

This is a good time of the year to look for warblers.  It's easy to see them since the trees in Michigan have not unfurled their leaves.

I love to hear the silvery songs of warblers in the air.  It's a sure sign of spring.

Once when I was on a small fishing boat on Lake Michigan, several migrating warblers landed on our boat. Fog caused them to lose their bearings and so they were grateful for the hospitality of our boat.  They rested there until the sun came out again and then they were off.

The Great Lakes are on the migration routes of birds.  Bird watching is a favorite thing to do on and around the Great Lakes.










Water color by Barbara Spring

Returning Home

Salmon leaping the dam at Ludington, MI

Basic Instincts

Goslings follow the leader—
waddling after an imprint.


Veed geese fly home
the arctic tern,
the hummingbird,
and bright eyed warblers
fly to their tropical havens.
Lake trout swirl at river mouths
then race upstream.
American eels return from the sea
to freshwater streams.


Undersea
lobsters march in single file—
they know exactly where


they are going.
And we humans also know
where we are going


God’s green imprint is
upon our hearts. 
               
 --Barbara Spring

Excerpted from my book: Sophia's Lost and Found: Poems of Above and Below