WINTER

SPRING

Under the scowling sky

The frozen sand plain stretches.

Curled and crisp, two leaves

Scud away.

Falling slowing, whirling swiftly--

The horizon, lost in the snow.

On a gaunt skeleton

A crow with wings drooping

Peers.

Among the brittled grasses,

Frosting in the moon glare,

Tombstones are

Whiter tonight.

The glamourous night is fading

Over the rolling hills, hoary bare.

On the paled sky, the moon

Has forgotten to vanish.

From the clear depth, inlaid with stars,

An echo of the glittering snow.

A fleeting song and bell, over the icy horizon,

Have left a vibrant void.

The death-like expanse of snow,

The low leaden sky--

From the drift, now and then,

Thin fangs dart.

The rocking horse,

A half built block house--

Stillness echoes

Lost laughter.

Milky night;

Through slender trees in drowse

A petal--

Falling.

The air is still

And grasses are wet;

Thread-like rain

Screens the dunes.

.

On the pond rain-drops are bubbling;

From the hem of heaven

Dyed in black

The frog echoes.

The sloping sand plain

Fades into pale night air;

A black tree skeleton

Casts no shadow.

Above the settling mist,

Above the phantom isles upon the settling mist,

In the opalized moonlight,

The whinny of a horse careens by.

Down the lope, white with flowers,

Toward the hills, hazy blue,

A butterfly

Floats away.

While you pant deliriously, I awake

To the bold moon,

The somber hills,

And myself.