A Bush Full of Drops

Crow cries in the mist;

Gray snow patches on the ground;

Cool air is vacant.

Drops hang from branches

Suspended and transparent;

A car swishes past.

Clear drops are hanging

On the rhododendron leaves

And the evergreens.

One delicate drop

Hung at the end of the branch.

I touched--it vanished.

A bush full of drops

Grows by the side of the road--

Each drop transparent.

Zealous woodpecker

Seems to be building a cave

In the passive tree.

Under the water

Trees grow in patches of sky;

Magic roadside pond.

Dim, dark forest path

Becomes shadowed fairy land

With the sun's magic.

Hand in Hand they Walk

The trees are silent;

Are they waiting now for me?

Why are they waiting?

Bright sun in morning;

Not a breeze stirs the tree limbs.

Wait! The wind chimes sway.

Hand in hand they walk:

Father-daughter on the road--

Trust and innocence.

Wheeling her barrow

Susan crosses her front lawn--

Her morning routine.

Luminescent grass

Guards the walkway to the house

Where nobody lives.

Forest is singing

Its high pitched tuneless rhythms.

Dark shadows lie still.

Line in roadside pond--

Is it shadow or substance?

Sunlight's not telling.

Against the Pale Sun

Just patches of snow;

Just pale green grass underneath;

Just the freezing cold.

Gray and white merging

Into a winter pastiche;

No sunshine breaks through.

Munching contented

Collette turns, gives me a look

Then back to munching.

Now the solar sign

Is buried in the snow bank

Covered with gray snow.

Stark trampoline stands,

Its feet covered with old snow;

Near empty lawn chairs.

On verge of falling:

Dead tree held by its neighbor

Suspended in air.

Kindred reflections

In the icy roadside pond--

One opaque and one clear.

Against the pale sun

Silhouetted tree stands out

In gray morning light.

A Motionless Dance

Blankets of snow now;

Dark shadows fall on the ground.

Black and white surround.

Soft clods of snow drop;

Wind chimes swaying silently

In the noiseless breeze.

The two cows standing

Mark the sunshine motionless

On this warm sunny morn.

Light and water flow

In the brisk bubbling stream.

Ice has disappeared.

Burping up the hill,

Loader precedes truck of rocks.

(What are they doing?)

In the white forest

Shadows play upon the snow--

A motionless dance.

Emerging from the snow

Like an archaic creature

Or rising pagoda.

Pole, snow pile shadows:

All stand still and silently

In the winter warmth.

No Breeze Stirs the Evergreens

Kitchen window scene,

Almost same as yesterday.

Fluff of a squirrel's tail.

Slight creaking upstairs--

Aseema is awake now.

(The creaking has stopped).

Collette stands outside

While Olivia munches.

And life goes on.

Jumble of cut wood

Lying in the snow bank

Providing no heat.

Torn fence and brambles

Are embraced in a tangle--

Lost expectations.

In the frozen woods

No breeze stirs the evergreens--

Even birds are still.

Roadside pond is still:

Transparent water replaced

With opaque gray ice.

Bowing to the road

Evergreen sapling endures

Its winter trial.