I am walking out of winter

I am walking out of winter

one booted foot

up and down

after another

like iron pistons

in deep snow

starting at the pines'

hollow deer beds

into the deep

white bowl of the meadow

aching up the hill

past the barn

and its stones as heavy

as my snow-drifted feet

past the iced herbs

and silvered

scraps of wind and sleep

past the column of moon

(ah,

loose white feather

floating in the blue sky)

Trudging out of winter

toward the house

toward my birds

slipping off my knee boots

I climb up with them

my birds

my birds

descend

and ascend

the leafless black ladders

of trees

to and from the feeders

my birds

my birds

- Ruth M., January 2009

I created the bird image using my photo of starlings, then at picnik.com processed it with the the panography effect and framed it with the mirrored frame.