The First Buzzard of Spring

Yesterday was Saint Patrick's Day.
Everyone knows that if you catch a leprechaun
he has to grant you a wish.
To lure in any neighborhood leprechauns,
I was dressed as a leprechaun
and distributing luck
by putting green glitter
on the heads of kids in line for dismissal.
Fun!
...also a hygiene check:
how long will it take the glitter to leave their hair?
A little girl said,
"Hey Leprechaun!
Hey!
Hey! Hey!"
I turned around.
"Yes?"
"Hey! Did you know I'm Amish?"
I gave her an extra sprinkle.

The glitter was green,
but outside
the grass has not yet begun to green.
It has been cold.
At recess yesterday
in right field
the kids found a large frozen puddle.
I warned, "Be careful,"
and turned them loose.
Thump.
Thump thump.
The thumping was science at work.
Ice is slippery.
Gravity pulls mass toward the earth.
Lessons were learned with squeals and grins.
As small-bottomed impacts
made the ice crack
kids picked up the pieces
"This looks like glass!"
and learned about transparence
and translucence.

Today the ice was mostly gone.
Instead,
the kids piled sticks between the trunks of trees.
L found a spider on a chunk of bark
and took it over to show the girls.
"Augh!!"
They screamed
and ran away,
not because they are afraid of spiders
but because it is fun to scream.
T found tufts of fur,
remnants of a rabbit long gone.
E insisted the eagle that killed it
was up in the woods.
There is a fine line
between pretending
and lying.
Then I looked up
and saw a big bird.
Not an eagle...
the tipping of the v-shaped wings
told me it was a turkey vulture.
The first buzzard of spring!
I blew my whistle to call the kids together
and pointed out the vulture.
"Lets make our arms into a V
and tip from side to side.
Be vultures!"
As we tipped and soared around center field,
a small voice said, "There's a V!"
She pointed up.
There above our heads
were four Vs
headed north.
White Vs.
Snow geese!
I have never seen snow geese.
Canada geese are exciting enough...
but snow geese!
We form our class into a V,
girls on one slant,
boys on the other,
and flap our goosey group
northward
toward the school.

We haven't found any leprechauns,
but we are indeed lucky.
Saint Patrick would call us
blessed.