Green Giving by John Steffler

This green shower caught in the arms 
of the wind, green memory of rain 
after the rain has passed: young  

elm leaves fountaining down slight 
boughs, green fingerprints, like 
notes sprayed out of the grand

piano by Debussy’s hands, gracing
my window, armfuls cast from above,
green giving, sparrows plunge

in, deft brown strokes of the feathered
brush, finding the shadows that wait
for them like cool suits of clothes.

~ from That Night We Were Ravenous (McClelland and Stewart, 2007)