Winter in Vermont

april and a foot

of fresh wet snow

i cannot get to you now

the valley roads

have not

been plowed

the schools are closed

snow drifts up

the clapboards

the weight of white

bends the pines

snaps branches

we both know

it will be spring again

in a day or two

the turgid river

flooding the fields

with muddy water

washing away

all trace

of the storm