Downhill From Winter

This Wednesday we determined To get up the day with decorations, To please the eye with ribbons, To harmonize the moment, To balance this and that, To mystify an act. The sky is ruddy and waiting Like a ruby to be hammered out of rock. The sun is a cold jewel Turning in the sky. The sky is lavender and changing. There are footprints in the snow. Hourly they grow more dense. Were spring a close fountain I could bathe in it. Inside the vacuum is a bumper car Eating dust bunnies. There needs be an alternate, A plan B on such a morning When breath freezes soon. The north has come to visit. It tarries. We rebel, and we resist the cold. It has no pity at all. In time the breath of north will retreat, Driven back by a crowd of crows that mock it. Meanwhile, we play Scrabble And eat turnips and gravy.