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.

Cornucopia

Freezing and bright gray

Still January morning.

The plants are sleeping.

Large car swishes past

With a long exhalation

Of its motor breath.

Deep in the dark barn

Two cows huddle in the cold

Without a complaint.

Roadside birds scramble,

Rising swiftly to the bush-

Return to the road.

Above the swift stream

Icicles are forming--

Below--waters stream.

In the mirrored stream

Sky is spreading tree limbs--

Earth is in the air.

Like a large slingshot

Tree holds its neighbor

In its wooden sights.

Cornucopia

With its gift still and frozen--

Ice has filled the pipe.

I'm Invisible

Gray morning stillness;

Even the snow seems less white;

Wind chime slowly sways.

Birds in the bushes

Hop swiftly from branch to branch;

Check for phantom food.

Brown leaves on gray snow;

White horns in the dim barn door--

Soft morning contrasts.

Hanging from berries:

Drops of water from the sky--

Reflect the grayness.

Buried in the snow

The solar sign is concealed--

Waiting for the sun.

What large animal

Left such a yellow marker

At the tree's bottom?

Tiny roadside pond

Creates its own universe

With green and brown leaves.

Two friends climb the hill

Absorbed in conversation.

(I'm invisible).

New Year's Day Today

New Year's Day today;

Still dark shadows on the land;

Still wind chimes ringing.

Drops fall from the eaves;

Foretell a certain future--

Melting all over.

Nuzzling her friend

Collette enjoys the sunshine;

Wind chimes are ringing.

Sparkling in the sun,

The stream burbles endlessly

Until the next freeze.

A whirlwind of shouts

Bouncing higher and higher--

Girls on trampoline.

Patterns in the woods;

Dark shadows on the white snow.

A distant dog barks.

A trio of chairs,

Their seats covered by the thick snow

Still hold their own place.

Murmur of the wind

Whispers deep in the forest

Speaking many tongues.