WINTER

That rarest of moments: snow on a beach,

White moving driftwood, a seaweed that flies

Or seems to. Horizon just out of reach

Rendered unstable, its truth turned to lies

By these wind-flung clouds obscuring the view

Of anything solid. My thoughts are these:

Cold winter seasides can give us a clue

Of possible futures caught in the breeze

That might blow us away, far out to sea

Where land is a memory, mind-held, old

As the forests shrink to one broken tree

And the climate grips us in something cold.

Still, make a snowman then wait till the tide

Carries your art to the ocean’s far side.