Thaw You wake to the sound of bells Outside, blue flooding into every corner The air on your bare flesh, Space and self resume their customary order The body complains as it takes its weight As though it had never been flung around, disdaining All restraining Of its youth and strength Cream of wheat and coffee As scraps of the world outside appear in halftone But you can find no trace of pain In sunlight on the wet flagstone Lying in bed of a Friday night You've started to hear walking home from dockside taverns Laughing slatterns In the street below CHORUS: So every autumn at first frost You declare you've finally lost Those stupid adolescent yearnings. But when the dogwoods start to bud There's a thawing of the blood And they come flooding back again The guest room is still a mess And at the start of June, the kids are coming So all afternoon you fight with drywall, Rotten boards, and leaky plumbing You carry your beer to the yard at dusk The glow of the tulip shoots as the maple's roots toil Through the wet soil Underneath your feet… CHORUS