Awaiting-Clarksville, MO 2011-Nancy P. Masland
Awaken, Canada geese flock, honk overhead
Fly South, escaping chill and coming snow-
Storm brewing, eagles hunker down by cliffs
One, hoping for last fish, lands on ice floe.
In stillness, no mammal moves, enveloped
By gray, heavy, moist air; where flurries swirl
Bare branches, alert for powder landings,
Sounds muted, earth sucked dry, wind quickens.
Ready as Beso, wise, old donkey, feels below
Gophers and rabbits asleep, in frozen universe,
In sere blanket, huddled; humans shielded inside.
Three fat icicles, drift, form patterns, curves
As Sun coyly graces then retreats in gray mantle
So handhold slips, crashes off metal roof, melts
Noisily as animal, whines, thuds, and skitters.
Where asks Beso, is the broken latch, the exit?
Where, the remembrance of mother’s feeding?
Of knowing the reality of new possibilities?
With frigid nights comes nothing, everything,
Morn comes with sounds of snowplows, shovels
Offering us breath, life; while the shadow waits.