Patrick O'Reilly - January

The great North Wind rattles the trees
And shatters their twigs to splinters
The sparkling quilt of snow knee-deep
Paves the streets of winter

Hilly dams span the roads
With city traffic hindered
Trudging through the sterile cold
Of the dry, crackling winter

A birch tree bends upon a wheel
Is any body injured?
Soft as snow, as hard as steel
A picture, a killer, winter

The sun dies out by four o'clock
The night sky quickly enters
It creeps in with short, breathy steps
That sombre, freezing winter

Patrick O'Reilly

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/january-2/