Winter

Down here the winter sits, dissolved in black, Yet under the warming bark, young shoots arise; They keep their secrets only with the snow, And while we shiver close, they breathe through life— Peering through the numbing depths to where Spring waits, dazzling within its frozen coat; In the hush too far from voices, lost in white, Whisper the lips of trees awakened To celebrate their worth—lost once, But eternal as roots deep under ground.

• Sidney Keyes