I am the warm wind racing west
From the mountain,
I am the river of air scouring
Clean the white land,
I bring the spring bubbling
Deep from the earth’s heart,
I frighten the winter to sleep
Long and wake slow,
I am the sun prayer sent for
Warmth by the Manitou,
I am the Chinook, the
Great eater of snow.
Here on the ragged edge of winter –
The snow patches lurk on the north slopes
To remind us not to get too comfortable
Or to believe in the sun’s fleeting heat,
Colorado plays with us this transitory season –
Shows us hints of summer but snatches
Them away with a foot of wet snow to
Break the new-budded branches and
Smother the Crocus reaching for the sun,
The old season dies hard along the Front
Range of the Rockies and the new one
Gasps and struggles to be born in a
Windy spasm of mud and dust –
Here on the jagged edge of spring.
