December Idyll

The sky is heavy with the threat of snow.
Crows clamor in the invisible distance
and squirrels scuttle down trees
searching for a last nut to cache. Winter
has erased the last equivocations of fall,
brown leaves hidden under drifts of white
or frozen into glassy slicks of ice.

It's quiet on the street: most businesses
are closed today. The rattle of chains
passes only occasionally-- no Marley's ghost,
just the neighbor going out for a quart
of milk. Tiny pellets of ice tumble
through the bare branches of trees
with a faint ticking, like the sound of rain.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside