The First Robin By Father Richard Libby

THE FIRST ROBIN
 
I woke this morning and I heard a song
Familiar, cheerful, pleasing to my ear.
It had been absent all the winter long,
And I rejoiced this simple song to hear.
It was the robin, singing at the dawn,
With russet breast below his charcoal wing.
I saw him hunting worms out on my lawn;
And singing of the imminence of Spring.
I saw green buds a-forming on the trees
And cheery flowers, finally in bloom;
I saw some butterflies and bumble bees
And migratory birds in vernal plume.
In spring, it seems, a dead world does revive.
I see it and I'm glad to be alive.

Father Richard Libby is a Catholic priest. His poems have been published by Korrektiv Press, the St. Austin Review, and Grand Little Things, and he completed NaNoWriMo in 2019 and 2021. In addition to writing, he enjoys reading, bird watching, hiking, and bicycling.