A Silent Guest in the Night

Snow has come and stayed,
A silent guest in the night.
Bushes bend with white.












Nine below freezing--
It's feeling like a heat wave.
Where are my sandals?












A vast plane of white;
Thin stalks stickup in the snow--
Break monotony.

With its limbs outstretched
Fir tree embraces the snow.
What else can it do?










Sky is blue lead gray;
Pregnant snow clouds hover low;
Everything is still.











They're white in late Spring,
These puff blooms that won't let go.
Now they're white again.

Belle must really know
How perfect her blackness is
Dashing through the snow.

Sign against the tree
Blankened mute white by the snow.
Its letters have fled.

Synchronicity

Flower pot on porch
Now looks like an ice cream cone
Surrounded by snow.










A few flakes still fall
Fluttering through the dim air;
Beginning or end?

A vast world of white--
Snow shovels, bowed tree branches
And children's foot prints.








Fluttering by stream
Chubby birds hunt for food
With flaps and shivers.

A slight wind whistles
Shaking snow flakes off fir trees--
Whirling dots of white.

Giant mound of snow
Against a sign that says "Banks"--
Synchronicity.

On abandoned shack
New boards to keep the ghosts out.
(Don't think it will work).












With its mouth open
Milkweed husk faces the sky:
Winter silhouette.

In a Fleeting Flash

Just above zero;
Even sunlight seems frozen
On the still snow bank.

Familiar street sign
Cocked at crazier angle.
Snow just keeps creeping.


All's white and shadow;
Glowing bright and azure sky;
Fingers that won't warm.

The stream is frozen;
Just tiny trickles survive;
The air is all ice.

A school bus passes
Crunching softly on the road;
Everything's muted.

Muffled like the snow
I walk in a silent world
Framed by my footsteps.


Where is the mail box?
Bent so far down in the snow
It will disappear.

In a fleeting flash
Two deer float across the road--
Instant memory.

To Birth the Sunlight

It has been two weeks
Lying in bed with the flu;
Snow still has fallen.

How do they do it--
Cows there in the freezing cold
Without L.L. Bean?


Black cow on white snow
Pecks for something far below.
(There's always some hope.)

They're holes in the snow--
Dark mirrors in the whiteness.
Stream keeps on flowing.


Valiantly bending
Wood fence tries to keep back snow;
Fruitless endeavor.


Shadows in the snow
Ripple in the flowing light;
Return to blankness.

With yellow halo
Pregnant cloud awaits its turn
To birth the sunlight.

It's a lottery:
How long will this dead Fall leaf
Continue to hang?

Haloed By The Snow

Billows of white flakes
Obscure visibility;
And then they are gone.












The carved wooden owl
Still leaning against the tree
Is covered with snow.












Bird silhouette
Dark against the mottled sky
Still as a statue.

In a few moments
The world is covered in white
As if always so.












Roaring down the road,
Hard steel plows into snow flakes
Chugging and grunting.

As flakes start to fall
Jaunty walker swings her arms
Smiling like a child.



Sun rays through the trees
Illuminate the small pine
Haloed by the snow.












Barbed wire around trunk
Looks feeble and rusted now--
Tree is still growing.

New York City Cold

It looks bleak outside;
It is bleak , I was just there.
The walk must go on.

Fir needle on porch
Where I dragged the Christmas tree,
Still it hangs around.


Warm stench from the barn
Broadcasting the cow and bull
Envelope my nose.


Rooster keeps crowing;
It's clear that he wants something;
I have no clue what.

New York City cold
Cutting through the road today
Provides no haven.


Grill perched on the snow
Has no summer memories;
It only stands there.


Pet Watch car speeds by
Heading for some cats or dogs
To feed and nurture.

Slender frail seedling
Sways bravely out of the snow
Without any leaves.

Shadows in a Dream

Sudden flash of sun;
Trees, snow and front porch light up
And so does my heart.

Sun is bright today;
It does not shed any warmth
As it peeks from clouds.












Silver tasseled plants
Transformed into stacks of hay
Bent against the fence.

Hole in the tree trunk
Too perfect for nature's drill.
How did it get there?












Braids from a trash can
Hang after they've done their work
To keep garbage in.












The woods are frozen;
Icy winds beat back the thaw--
Seasonal see-saw.

Voices through the woods
Are unintelligible--
Shadows in a dream.

A new ornament
Joins others on the mailbox;
(Put it there myself).

Mist Embraces Trees

Mist falls on the snow,
Lending grayness to the white
On Daddy's birthday.

Mama licks Alfred;
Baby bull says, "Stop it Ma."
Some things never change.










Mist embraces trees
Making silhouettes softer.
Sound of swishing cars.

Two yellow beacons
Glow softly as they approach--
Car lights in the fog.




Icicles retreat,
Revealing banks of the stream;
Illusion of Spring.












Is it mist or rain
That gently touches my face
And then disappears?

Tiny liquid drops
Swell on the end of tree limbs--
Small kaleidoscopes.












Shadow of the snow
Which has slid down the tree trunk
Leaving the phantom.