While all around us now the wintry scene
set, invisible hands have plucked the trees
clear of leaf, sprinkle snow upon the green
till it piles just so, the efficiencies
of habitat prepare that robin, squirrel
top effortless, and household roofs are furred
in wintry fashion; even time’s mercurial
passage unfaltering, unfrosted word
that makes the saying said in all degree,
pursues the light that spends more time indoors;
in clock face registers, the half-past three
strikes terror in the snow, the great outdoors.
