Last Winter

the trees glitter like glass, shimmer like chandeliers, clattering their crystal with each wind-creak, shivering in shadows like silver silhouettes as pigeons pirouette on park benches and sparrows speak and scatter on backyard fences, then leap and gather on winter wires while smoke twists and curls from furnace fires. the birds fret their fur and fuss their wings, then still like statues on a string before bursting into flight as clouds swirl and part and the sun ignites each bough; branch; and bark; lit by flash, split by flame; they burn; blaze; spark; 'til all is singed with light, fringed with fire, unhinged and unnamed.