What A Lovely Day, with Dread

It is a beautiful day here,
The sky clear, sun up, days
Lengthening, the ocean breeze
Brisk and cheerful.

From the backyard, all the trees
Around lush, this green, that green,
Greens that better eyes than mine
Would see, greens that even the 
Best trained artist be unable

To name.  These days, however,
As much as I would dislike,
I need to name the parts,
The sling swivel, the safety catch,
The trigger, the bolt,

These days those parts are too
Often named, and too often used,
And too often necessary, even as
The winter has passed, and spring has
Arrived

And the turtle doves coo, and the
Days lengthen.  And I’d rather them,
Then the name of those other parts,
On a spring day, so beautiful, that
Oh God help us,
We’d rather avoid and wish not
The dread.
Oh God, help us.