A few zen moments as I took the snowshoes through the woods and to the hill top overlooking a nature preserve and frozen ponds filled with crisscrossing deer tracks.

(1)

In winter’s depth
We scan the frozen
lake’s shoreline
glowing beneath
the sun.

In winter’s depth
The white landscape
Keeps her secrets and
Resists the morning sun.

We stand against birch
And listen hoping for nothing
Noticing each grunt, whistle,
And finally relax when nothing growls.

(2)

I visited that cold lake
With the frozen shoreline.

I watched the last birds take flight
And left me standing there alone.

Bare feet break-through thin
Ice and burrow into the sand.