If

If the day breaks warm and clear, dries the wet ache of night if
the great horned owl that haunts the trees halts its hunt

if what cries out at midnight finds its way to safety, if fear moves
to delight, if what claws, caresses, what shrieks, sings if

day breaks over daffodils, white throated sparrow, robin, jay
their punctuations in the morning air symphonically arresting

if coffee, if the hum of your body next to mine, if the breathing dogs
if the tumble bump of our drying clothes, if a stream of sunlight

the backfiring bus, if the old man with his wheelbarrow trudging
his ground, if we rise to gather our fallen limbs together, take turns

with our burdens, if the day breaks warm, dries the wet ache of night
if we move our bodyselves to the tune of what is if we rise and let

die, rise to live, rise and let wamer winds carry a day to night if
the hum and the alphabet, if the voice, if the breath, if sweetness

soothes if hearts bend, if greeting a day tosses blankets of dread sky
high if the insistence of birds wakens us curious, if we rock to

the rhythm, stretch, skyward, sing in the tumble, trudge and take it
easy, if the day breaks warm and clear, dries the wet ache of night.