Have You Noticed?

 The cold has settled

across the land,

the gardens frozen,

the bare trees stand

remembering weight of golden leaves.

Have you noticed?


Each breath is laced

with crystal cold,

and only crows

are left to hold

their court in empty monarchy.

Have you noticed?


Yet sunsets keep

the brightest shades

for these, the coldest of the months,

and even when the sunlight fades

the stars are clearest when our gaze

is woken by midwinter ice,

and if you pause in winter woods

and listen to the silence grow,

you find that silence has a sound--

 of wind through cedars and weighty snow.

Have you noticed?

                                                                                ~Aliza Silverstein