Marlborough Woods

.

Brown in their winter skins, they rise up,

Lean pointers, borders of the wilderness.

After January rain, glass branches rock,

Melting and re-freezing as air shifts from fog to chill.

Across the shelf of Mount Monadnock,

Under a white flannel sun,

Wind blows the snow like cold smoke.

.

—Paul Marion (c) 1976, 2014