Cruelest Month

Cold snap
smothers bud fires—
crab apple & lilac
incense of heaven extinguished
too soon.

Ominous

veiled pale
between branches
like a frost masked phantom
or a pearl of frozen omen
snow moon

Dog Years

Old girl
so asleep on
cool kitchen floor only
fourteen tiptoe summers know she's
breathing.

Maeshowe Cairn, Orkney

Winter
light only, please—
ancient ghosts fragile as
classic film flicker out quickly
come spring.