Songs for Cold Mountain

"...crowded ridges breath in snow
sunless forests breath out mist..."  – Han Shan, 6











Cold snap has hardened Lake Monona
to nothing but a sky's mirror
under the Yahara bridges
the ducks waddle over cracked ice
where the water opens they leap in
and tip their tails to the distant sun
then plunge like hot arrows
to the bottom with eyes
like moons at midnight