Frozen tracks in snow;
One coming and one going.
Distant child's high laugh.












Hoarsely rooster cries,
Repeats again and again;
Nothing answers him.

The man and his dogs:
Two retrievers sniff the snow;
All the scents are cold.









Brown sprouts in the woods
Push up through the thick white snow--
Growing or dying?

Frail the young fir tree
Tentatively in the snow,
Did not choose its birth.

Here the phone wires turn
Through the trees, down the valley--
Soundless voice highway.












Dog barks far away:
High pitched insistent yips
Signifies something.

Behind the bushes
Mute fierce snow stump monster stands
With his mouth open.

Light in morning gloom
Leans tipsy in the grayness
Glowing all the same.