Behind my apartment building is a bed of tulip bulbs.
The big flukey green leaves are up,
but this morning there was sleet,
and now the flukey leaves are sprawled in the dirt every which way.
Maybe the tulip stems and buds downstairs
are having second thoughts about poking themselves above ground.

In the meanwhile, the peepers are peeping frantically,
the bird calls can't be told apart because
all the birdies are hollering and trumpeting at the same time,
especially on a rainy sleety morning.

The trees are stealthily opening buds of green.
And some of the marshlands are still dangerously near flood stage.