W hat are we when the sun dims
And the moon is queen of the sky ?

When the leaves brown
And the birds vanish

When the wind chills the body
And the bears sleep forever
And everything seems dead

Then a glint of hope
A small delicate thing
The only sight of beauty in this frozen wasteland

        A snowflake

                Then two

                       Then five

Then five hundred freefalling like feathers
Daintily landing upon the frozen ground

           Long times pass

        And then the snow melts
And what should I see out of my frostbitten window but

                       A flower

         Spring at last

— Todd Hollow —

*[ WSB ]_.