To Waken an Old Lady
Old age is
a flight of small
cheeping birds
skimming
bare trees
above a snow glaze.
Gaining and failing
they are buffeted
by a dark wind --
But what?
On harsh weedstalks
the flock has rested --
the snow
is covered with broken
seed husks
and the wind tempered
with a shrill
piping of plenty
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Source:
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/williams/additionalpoems.htm
Illustration:
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/4529763/2/istockphoto_4529763_tree_with_birds.jpg