the crisp underneath
score...like slow breakers
the silence of winter
the ghastly pall of the hiss
falling
apart like a whisper

its winter..the end of it..the ice falling apart
beneath the shoes and boots
a crush sweet sound...
while the last of winter
trickles down in the dusk
like a glitter
night rising like a thick sleep
against these trees haunted and climbing

a strange mystic time of year
the howls and spirits
stirring in the grasp
of stillness
brushed awake by the wind
hand of evocation

thank you

we are sportsmen and women
of our skills to survive

the long season