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.