Winter's Rigid Grasp

White, wispy-soft
skeins of cloud
pass leisurely across
the face of the wide, blue sky
that yesterday was busy
with dark clouds
drifting an early spring
gift of enveloping
snow. An icy, dry wind
has since teased
the snow from
tree boughs - and high above,
a murder of crows
whip themselves into a
cacophony of frenzied fury,
dark, wheeling figures
against the blue. The
sun's resurgent brightness
glances off the
winter green fastness
of pine, spruce, hemlock
and fir. The ravined forest
whose trails were
glaciated, are now
tempered with snow again.
The waterways below
have been liberated
and rush impulsively
to swell far-off rivers
clamouring their rescue
from winter's rigid grasp.