A Winter Quaternary

Snowing

First the light changes
To a mustardy smudge
Then the sound of the day
Mutes, loses clarity
It all bodes ill

Then the sinister
Turns to magic
Trillions upon trillions
Of snowflakes
Everyone impossibly different
No fuss, just there

The first lazy motes drift
Innocent, no threat
The seer brown hill
Becomes the enchanted castle
It always believed it was

Trees break into improbable blossom
Trunks sparkle with crystal lichen
Spontaneous delight reaches out
Caught then gone
The most fleeting of glories
Replaced by
The most fleeting of glories


Snowfall


Somewhere miles above
An atmospheric event
Has come to term
Solitary flakes impatient to be gone
Whirl away
The more timid
Form clumps, and land
With that noise made by snow

A sound recognised
Slow worms tangle more intimately
Lizards tuck tighter into moss pockets
Toads with a disgusted huffle
Shuffle deeper

Birds are suddenly everywhere
Looking for food
Where are the berries?
Were they greedy too soon?
The snow will decide

There are mysteries in the snow
The tracks that start and then stop
As though an animal was placed so
And then after its walk, lifted up
By what device? By whose hand?

There is always a track before,
The unknown, neat, polite
Perfect against the white
Yours, shuffled and clumsy
A gross spoiling of perfection

Will you track the track?
Breath clouding the morning
Yes, until the uphill effort defeats
And the tracks are mysteriously gone
Until dog makes more.


Winterkill


White ethereal breath
Clouds white against white
Sunslant strikes scintillas of rainbow
Exciting, awesome, enchanting
But with beauty comes cruelty
Unthinking, unknowing, indifferent

Here a gaunt stiff Roe Doe
Stark on the hill
Fawn forlorn
Waiting for the scavengers
Shudders at the scream of Fox
Here an old woman
Made smaller by death
Leaning into a dead fireplace
Made smaller with bricks

She briefly remembered
The way her heart fluttered
The delight of discovery
Of her first love
A picnic, a dance, a beach
Until her heart stuttered
And stopped
When will she be found?

Her family politely picking
The bones of a life forgot
Leave tracks of avarice and greed
China for a daughter
Books for a son
But whose?
A well trodden path
So different from the fox
Tracking for need
But still carrying off bounty
Carrion for her cubs



Heavy Snow


Society demands
Always wanting more
Bigger, better, quicker
Well, guess what?
They got it this time!
Failed to predict accurately
Failed to cope with simple ice crystals
Such clever boys!
Was it the wrong sort of snow?

There are lessons to be learned
But then there always are
The dandruff of ignorance
A constant condition
Settles as thick as snow
The chill of financial restraint
What else to blame?
Will still be with us
Come the thaw

Committees count the cost
‘Is that all? And only so many dead?’
‘Trains? Has anyone thought of steam?’
‘We got off lightly that time’
‘Best order some more salt
But let’s just wait and see’.
‘We can always tax the first six inches
That should stop it!’

©Alexander Hamilton December 2010