SNOWING

Aloft in titanic eddies, heavy air
Condenses, crystal-creating; trillions of jewels
Float and swirl like vagrant molecules
Crowding the sky till gravity overbears

The flyers, and slowly they settle to earth as fluff,
Or a sleety mixture. Pristine, uncorrupted,
Draping, cramming, wind-possessed and sculpted,
And only later mingling with mundane scruffy

Scraped-road detritus , packing hard
And icy; softening to slush, and melting,
with rivulets coursing down the overzealous
Grades; the cracks and gullies fill, the yards

And sewers overflow to puddle and ponds
For the sun to suck the wet up in response.

(148, March 9, 1994)

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