Winter Song

by Lucien Stryk

Snow settles into cubist folds,
fleeces wind-shoveled debris
over mountain, village, town.

Sends creatures snuggling into
hiding.  Badgers hunkering
like homeless in their corners —

sleep bitter days away.  Snow
glazes orchards, wastelands
in a frosty spill of sun.

Nips fingers, toes, triggers
tooth-shudders down the spine.
Wind petering to a thaw, as ice

melts in septic rivers, coots,
ducks, herons, red-beaked
black swans, sail into martyrdom.