Still Life

Not the merest hint
nor a whisper of air moving
the forest this morning.
Yesterday's fierce windstorms
swept away the snow and ice
layered on trees leaving
their limbs dark and bare
against the backdrop of
white on the forest floor.
That ferocious siege
blew every dead branch
and twig from their
perches, all the
dessicated and transparent
foliage clinging stubbornly
past fall on the branches
they favoured with a
vibrant green summer and
fall, displayed now in
one of nature's superb
art shows, 'leaf-on-snow'.