Photo by Jennifer Ailor - Click to enlarge |
A Winter’s Walk in the Dark
The white-ribboned track snakes through the black bones of the woods.
Ice pellets fall from the dark,
Pressing cold night to ping on the frozen earth.
My boots crunch through the crust.
My breath clouds the cold.
The track rounds a bend, and now a soft glow
Lights the sleet, warms the night,
Promises refuge from the storm.
--Jennifer Ailor, February 3, 2009, walking from the barn down the lane to the house.
* Jennifer is President of Springfield Master Naturalists