Angelforms

It's so cold
chimney-smoke dangles
like wash from the sky.

Sparrows scrabble the snow
under our feeder
     claiming rights and
quarreling. I watch them

pantomiming life
priorities of territory
and prestige
      the battle

heating as two males
become a ball of wings
      and claws
        erupting in the air

carrying the struggle
to the snow-lapped ground.
Later, I see

angelforms in the snow.