Freedom

The calendar is prearranged
Is it possible to change?
Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November,
all the rest have thirty-one
but February would have none
if calendars were meant to rhyme.
It doesn't work that way with time.
In lines of modern verse the feet
refuse to keep a patterned beat;
just so, the second month I find
has trouble making up its mind;
in days it claims to do just fine
with twenty-eight or twenty-nine.
I believe it would prefer to keep
no fixed schedule when to leap,
walk, skip, hop, run, or crawl,
feel free to climb, to risk a fall.
I love you, February child
whether you are mild or wild.
I envy what you want to be;
I think I'll try it out on me.