Waiting trees

Stripped by autumn, it’s been a long time since you saw green leaves and crawling caterpillars. Just waiting. Winter ruffled you, mixed and stirred you with a dollop of snow, a pinch of ice. And then there was spring, although you’d hardly know it. That’s just how it is. The clouds pass leaving blotches of shadow and it’s cold without the sun, with an empty darkness on the horizon filled with echoes of the snow that has been and that which is to come. Soon. Just waiting.