Saturday, December 4, 2010

The First Snowfall


With the first snowfall
My cardinal returns.
He alights on his tree
Out of an instinct
I could only guess at.
He stays awhile,
Testing each thin limb,
Half-hoary in sunlight,
Settling on the one
Unbowed by his weight.
I look up
To see his absence,
And in his wake,
The only red I see
Is the stop sign
On the street corner.

2 comments:

Rebekah said...

This weekend NC had a world of white, fluffy snow, and my window looked out on evergreens, a green metal birdfeeder, and red cardinals posing for the usual colored Christmas-card pictures. They would be cardinal-jealous if they could see your photograph.

cha sen said...

I like the scene you described - it's a nice counterpoint to my solitary cardinal.