winter announcing

today is winter's medallion,

the wind shaving bright fractures

in sloth January dreams.

small towns nurse on the firm mountains,

wide Hudson now

whitecaps of cold on cold.

a lean cherry tree

prays bare solitude in the lacy frost.

minds creak with a sudden view

of an ice necklace,

piercing my sky iris

with slender elegance.

a canoe drifts

home to the arctic,

a bleached cedar clings to a gnarled cliff.

and yet...

alone in the embrace of all winters,

the small room catches

passing sunlight and

pools of sweet time. 

smooth mug, vivid sweaters,

wild children eyes and laughter -

the perfection of following

this thread through, nostalgia

for right here and now.

there is no halting,

just potentials of gravestones

and trees decomposing to Beethoven

in a forgotten stretch of frozen woods.