Dawn Dawns
When the wooperwill woops and the gray swooper swoops,
The weeping willow weeps and the sleeper thrush sleeps;
When the clinging vine clings and the singing lark sings,
Night falls in the forest with a muffled thud.

When the screech owl screeches and the beach whale beaches,
Then the dancing water dances while the stancing lark stances;
The soaring eagle soars and the boring beetle bores,
and Night clings to the forest like a cloak of mud.

When the hopping toad hops and the dropping bat drops,
The crying wren cries while the sighing wind sighs;
The muttering fox mutters and the stuttering stream stutters,
And the promise of dawn is like a flower’s swollen bud.

When the burbling brook burbles and the yurbling hawk yurbles,
Then the leaping lizard leaps and the cheeping swallow cheeps;
The blinking osprey blinks while the slinking ferret slinks—
Dawn lights the forest as crimson as blood

--Hank Eder May, 2004