frost on leaf litter

the spring has an excess of color and the summer an excess of heat, the fall is indecisive and trips over its feet. winter i can rely on. winter decorates the ground each morning in extravagant diamonds shining in thin sunlight, winter blanches the color out of everything until there is naught but essence left. winter makes the hidden visible- breath and branch and earth- and blankets the seen in snow and wool. winter comes, sometimes smiling and sometimes baring teeth. but winter comes faithfully. when all the perishable green is gone from the world the everlasting green takes on new and radiating splendor, its dull darkness assuming the forsaken role of 'colorful'.
the mice move indoors and the spiders curl their legs and sleep and the dogs glare baleful at the open door.