Just days ago, the peonies poked through
the soil, their straight red shoots growing so fast
you could almost stand there and watch them
add inches. Then their leaves opened,
eager and bold, and they, too, could hardly
wait to add length and width to their size.
Yesterday rain came, and they drank as if
they were sailors and how they reeled
right there in the yard, whooping it up
with such boisterous joy that they almost
scared the blackbirds.