It's Ground Hog Day! What is it that sustains the seasons of the earth and of our lives? What is this amazing force that operates with cyclical rhythms? Perhaps Lynn Unger has found the critter:

Ground Hog Day

Celebrate this unlikely oracle,
this ball of fat and fur.
whom we so mysteriously endow
with the power to predict spring.
Let's hear it for the improbable heros who,
frightened at their own shadows
nonetheless unwittingly work miracles.
Why shouldn't we believe this pecular rodent
holds power over sun and seasons in his stubby paw?
Who says that God is all grandeur and glory?

Unnoticed in the earth, worms
are busily, brainlessly tilling the soil.
Field mice, all unthinking, have scattered
seeds that will take root and grow.
Grape hyacyths, against all reason
have been holding up green shoots against the snow.

How do you think spring arrives?
There is nothing quieter, nothing
more secret, miraculous, mundane.
Do you want to play your part
in bringing it to birth?
Nothing simpler.
Find a spot
not too far from the ground.
And wait.

Lynn Ungar "Blessing the Bread"