THE MALICE OF SNOW
The snow arrived at the mountain peaks
overnight, stopped there,
melted by noon
Old timers called it a dusting,
the last of winter
By four in the fearsome afternoon
of the very same day
walls of snow slid into the valley
crushing meadows, pines and aspens,
cracked branches, penetrated rooftops,
tumbled into the valleys west of there
leaving four men mummified in drifts
State troopers blocked the highways
Wood burning stoves formed knuckles
of the low clouds into heavy fists
of fear
The furious snow moved relentlessly forward
until white took all
A rancher barricaded for days as a boy
in a smoky cabin behind spears of ice
hanging from the roof of his homestead
leans against a pine pole fence to look up
from time to time to the mountains
on bitter cold April mornings recollecting
the storm struck in late spring before
the summer he learned to break horses