Snow Globe

In the abandoned
Countryside tonight,
From which memories
Of glaring streets
In sideways winds
Are mostly vanquished,
In our solitary
Glade the mountains
Vanish nonetheless
In clouds for weeks
On end, frozen trees
Piped in glaze
Like Christmas
Lights, the eaves
Around us wreathed
In crystal grays,
Alps like garlands
Gaping through
The lofty mist,
Backroads as white
As swirling veils
That mute all sins
In these outer reaches
Of the town,
As the squalls
Close in
Around us,
Silver glistening
Past the windows
Like so long ago,
Snowmen deep
In every mound,
Pouring down tonight
To sleet and drift on firewood,
While plows sweep
Swirls into other
People’s childhood
Stories, that
Ship and sift the world
With their glories
Back to sleep

January 24th, 2023
Tippet Alley