Night of First Snow

Night of first snow.

I stand, my back against a board fence.

The fir trees are black at the trunk, white out on the edges.

The earth balances all around my feet.

The apple trunk joins the white ground with what is above.

Fir branches balance the snow.

I too am a dark shape vertical to the earth.

All over the sky, the gray color that pleases the snow mother.

A woman wades out toward the wicker basket, floating,

Rocking in darkening reeds.

The child and the light are half asleep.

What is human lies in the way the basket is rocking.

Black and white end in the gray color of the sky.

What is human lies in the three hairs, caught,

The rabbit left behind

As he scooted under the granary joist.