Palm Sunday

a train whistle
bark of a dog
a lone bird song
and then another

the quiet day is temperate
clear, yes the daffodils bloom
but the slumbering
grass has not wakened

i have seen one cardinal
twice, a robin before today
the vernal equinox palm sunday
but the trees are not eager
this time to present their children
to the capricious world

perhaps the sun has warned
all plants to conserve assets from damage,
who knows what signals
instruct seeds to burst
push the green bud into the open air

i only know it is palm sunday
and my dogwood seems in no way
inclined to bloom