Shadows Fall Gently

Shadowed snowy path;
The cow looks out from the barn;
Dumb Basset Hound howls.

Shadows on the roof
Curve and twist with the tree shapes.
Birds flit between them.










Goats keep on eating;
Reducing the Christmas trees.
Everything takes time.












Old nest blows in wind;
Pieces flutter high above
From the unused home.



Two deer on the road
Stop, look around and then leave.
Were they ever there?

Snow banks are frozen;
Dark grit stuck in the roadside,
Part of the sculpture.

Shadows fall gently
Curving softly on the snowbank--
A still, languid dance.

Frozen in the snow
Paw prints from some time ago
Passing into woods.

Slow tapping somewhere--
A desultory woodpecker
Hammers for his food.







Translucent, shining:
Ice on the face of the rock;
Liquid, clear and still.












Shadows of the pine
Descend in gentle clusters
On the snow's palette.