White Landscape

The lid of the world
is clamped firmly tight -
low, and aluminum-white
as though reflective of
what appears below, a
landscape of unremitting
white - as not a breath
of wind interrupts the
steadily descending snow
overwhelming all it falls
upon.  It is not the sky
emulating the earth's frozen
coverlet but nature's device
of cause and effect that
has drawn a scene of
monochromatic beauty.
But for the punctuated
presence of hornbeam and
beech refusing to surrender
their foliage, blanched to a
vibrant, dessicated umber,
hanging defiantly, delicately
but firmly ornamenting the
all-enveloping white.