Winter Series

Winter
Winter like duck-down poured over a window
The tiny flakes accumulate, each representing
Hope, maybe, possibly, if only, crystals of anxiety
Cold, structured, patterns of rules and a law
The state like winter is to nature, is to artifice
both decorate the landscape with whiteness,
Footprints march up and down the snow
Impressing with each footfall the strictness
Of policies, the blue light with Doppler effect
A symbol of empowerment, an arrested shadow
Turns blue then red, a conifer labouring with ice
Tinkling with naivety, loses some like teeth,
The blizzard bleaches the horizon and the view
Of gardens with children playing with their toys,
Summers of happiness, now white, the death
Of contrast and colour comes suddenly like an X.