Smoke bellowing forth from chimneystacks,
ardent warmth from the shanties cracks.
Held fast within the snow laden ground,
never to move from the site they have found.

Succumbed by the season's slashing roar,
siblings of kind stand no more.
Courageously crashing the emptiness hard,
to end in ashes blackened and charred.

Numbing winds surge the hollow streets,
hoarfrost melts in the approaching heat.
Windows and doors kept assuredly tight,
brisk currents of zephyr filter the light.

Creatures looking for the homes that once were,
finding only the seeds uncounted years will cure.
Weeping foliage falls in the saddened outdoors,
in the effort to conceal life from future yore.

Copyright ©1997 James Foster