You can explain to me

In all the best vocabulary

Why there is no veil

(And therefore it can't thin in fall).

That seeing cardinals

Means only that

I'm looking for cardinals.

That anyone would miss their dead

With all these bones around,

No matter where the moon's at.

I don't refute a single point.

But on any chilly morning

That my heart is calling "Mom"

And a cardinal chirps nearby -

I am grateful for the reply,

And don't much care why.

— Jeanine Pranses

Jeanine Pranses is a Recreational Therapy Aide, yoga teacher, and writer living & loving in Hanover, PA.

All works copyright Jeanine Pranses and/or Andrew T. Smith