Robin Proverb within portending proverb... warbling she goes...dancing along cold, diamond-edged, slowly thawing snows. Burnished-orange on velvet breast, each subtle, solar glow penetrates her mother's heart, to spite ole winter's blow. Infant grass upholds her feet, soft-bladed greenish hue drinks up the melting ice retreat to boast of life anew. Awaiting there this numbing death, beneath the arctic blast... Enslavened by each icy breath, I comprehend what's past. Enigmatic rhapsodies, her melodies stir long-forgotten songs of summer-breeze among the trees. of innocence now-gone. Her shrill, it echoes time's refrain: "How great, how great the loss, To drink of splendid autumn's rain now swept away like dross." But deep within that ruby voice a memory rings clear, where once I'd heard the Savior's choice, Eternity draws near. 2009 Stephen F. Ashford