Tangle

Thick trunks raise wide webs

of limbs - a tangle of winter

woods, inked against white

night sky. Still-whiter,

shawls of snow wrap branches

near my window

while sheer curtains of flakes

flutter against its glass.

Inside, along windowsills

candles signal that here,

sparks are fanned into light,

coals into embers.

Here, webs of limbs become

kindling, lifeless trunks

blaze. A hearthfire rages,

simplifying knots and snarls

of firewood into

ash, fine enough

to sift back into soil.

Beneath white blankets

tangled roots remember

spring.