Winter

"Winter" by William Carlos Williams from Collected Poems:1909-1939, Volume 1, copyright in 1938 by New Directions Publishing Corp., reprinted by permission of New Publishing Corp.

Now the snow

lies on the ground

and more snow

is descending upon it-

Patches of red dirt

hold together

the old

snow patches

This is winter -

rosettes of

leather-green leaves

by the old fence

and bare trees

marking the sky -

This is winter

winter, winter

leather-green leaves

spearshaped

in the falling snow