December Fifth.

DECEMBER FIFTH

   The wind came before the snow and
   Before the darkness. The forest that
   Was settled, brown and gray and auburn,
   Beneath a light sky and a fine,
   Driven snow, had its trees turn
   Black, against the ground turned white.
   The lake, part ice and part clear,
   Turned from its many shades of silver
   To black water against white ice.

   And as the wind rose and darkness
   Fell, hundreds of geese, spectral as
   Bats, barely even to be distinguished
   From the darkness, descended upon
   What was left of the open water
   In a raging cacophony of calls,
   For a time running the sounds of their
   Riotous, unexpected life well above
   The storm, and deep into the darkness.

--WILLIAM RUNYEON