The Crystalline Arras

Up  in the forest canopy

the crowns of deciduous trees

lofty and bare bear no signs

of yesterday's raging blizzard

but conifer crowns and branches

are bent low with the weight

of newfallen snow. Today the

sky's vault is wide and blue

the sun triumphant in its winter

blaze sparking a landscape

ethereal and serene in its winter

garb. The wind still bellows in

the upper story, reluctant to depart

an orphaned element now the

storm has passed. Random rays

of sunlight pierce the canopy to set

fire to the crystalline arras.