WINTER by Dorothea S. Spiegel

When wintertime comes to the mountains
bare branches make windows that show
an expanded world, with vistas
not seen by October people,

who come for the colorful autumn
and go before the leaves fall.
I see mountains tipped with tree-frost,
and a church; I see a steeple.

Now the sun can reach my house; it's
shining through my kitchen window.
There's a spring behind that rock, there,
sending water down to the creek.

There's a house just built last summer;
there's another on that mountain
where I saw the bear last winter.
There are squirrels playing hide and seek.

I'm so glad I stay through winter
in these mountains that I love.
Even when the days are cloudy
I can always look outside

and watch the birds come to the feeder.
On a clear, cold day there's sunshine
making speckles on the the tree-frost.
Bright views to see; I'll take a ride.


Previously published in LIGHTS IN THE MOUNTAINS
Stories, Essays and Poems Written in and Inspired by
the Southern Appalachian Mountains.


ABOUT THE POET:
Dorothea S. Spiegel lives in Hiawassee, Georgia.
She has been writing poetry most of her life and
at age 85, she still writes. Her poems have been
published in Atahita Journal, Freeing Jonah V
and in the anthologies IN THE YARD and in
MOUNTAIN TIME.