By Carol Ellis, Conservancy member and long-time conservation advocate and educator

Ramble before the buttercups pop
bright, before grass widows weep
deep purples. Drift through forests,
pine, birch, fir.
When balsam root twist yellow whorls
to sky, as phlox scatter strands
pale pink, cling, cross those
rocky basalt outcrops!
Now rain showers. Moss plumps.
A mother quail scolds her brood
to mosey. Stoop! Robins’ eggs burst,
blue jewels.
In vernal ponds bull frogs garumph
in gangs. Ravens stake their space.
Red tails ride wind clines:
screech, kite, hover.
Winters past, a bull moose stood
stock-still at our street corner.
Where across south hills
does he wander?