VII.

Hewen’s - January

Gnarled roots, ancient, uphold

the banks--- muddy islands

wet with the slushy snow.

The drip of collapsing

ice crystals, always, in

the warming air. Fog lay

enthralled above the ice

---entropic illusion.

From the culvert, the rush

of lake fleeing southward

---persistent, eclipsing

flow; patient erosion

of wood and soil and stone;

enduring image of

inviolable love.