Two Poems By Mark Weinrich

VICTORY SONG
  
In turbulence when Winter battles Spring
The meadowlark arrives and lifts its voice.
Winter blasts to drown the fluted notes
Afraid the lark’s bright song will break its bonds.
One bird exalts, another echoes back
In never-changing song of confidence,
A melody that bridges restless fields
Recalling now what glory lies ahead.
Then Winter blows again with freezing breath.
Tenaciously the lark will not retreat.
A crack resounds, the daffodils awake,
They fling their golden heads in liberty.
And note by note a living rhythm springs,
In swelling of the lark’s ice-breaking song. 

FRUIT BLOSSUM FLIGHT
  
What bears them up
when hills are uniformed in snow
the drifts crouched in shadow?
  
How fragile hangs the bounty
in these blossomed congregations
shimmering like pearls.
  
The dreams of seasons
carried within, summer cherries,
apples of fall.
  
The tranquility of bees
as they mine the fragrance
to spark the prize.
  
What impulse drives this
precarious flight, their
pageantry by day?
  
And the risk of a clear
star-glazer night
with frosty knife.
  
Or the comfort of
shrouding clouds
to fill the seasons.
  
What bears this desperate
swing, from empty trees
to harvest fruit?
  
Is it the cost, the knowledge
with gratitude, of just how close
the knife falls between
the sorrow and sweetness?  

Mark Weinrich is a cancer survivor, a retired pastor, gardener, hiker, and musician.  He has had over 435 poems, articles, and short stories published in numerous publications, some include THE UPPER ROOM, BIRDS AND BLOOMS, NEW MEXICO MAGAZINE, IDEALS, THE SECRET PLACE, and LIVE.  He has also sold eight children’s books and currently has two fantasy novels on Kindle.