Snows after & upon snow
have left our landscape
a scream of white
which we look at
slightly dumbstruck
as we eat our standard
lunch and try to talk.
Suddenly she cries out
look! a butterfly,
and I turn to see
a spot, a blur, of color
in a straggly nearby tree.
No, I say, it’s a
cardinal! A cardinal
in this snow, late winter.
Think of that. Did he miss
the message about flying
south? Or does his
bright plumage itself
provide the answer—
And he’s just arrived?
Cioffi graduated from Sparta High School in 1969. He was a lecturer and visiting professor at Princeton and is now an English professor at CUNY. He lives in Princeton Junction with his wife.
