My steps fall 6 to 12 inches
Through a thick crust
Resting above a powdery layer
Broken and wet surface
Break, fall, and struggle
My steps are a contract with the earth
Discomfort is a small price
for the gift of solitude
Fans of pine needles
Greyish green
Sharp lines above sheer whiteness
Geometry and void
Depressions of hooves
Sharp in the slush
A single deer has ventured here
Witch hazel trunks arch overhead
The light is sparse, silver, and cold
Filtered, muted
Opalescence shimmers in the mist
As the sun peeks through
Gnarled oak branches
Reach into the liminal luminescence
High above the lichens and winterberry
Beneath their mantle of snow
A large stone at the field’s edge
Capped with snow and copper pine
Lichens, sleek olive with a dark velvety grip
Known as Rock Tripe
A white pine crackled
Its massive trunk blocks the path
The young white birch stand as witness
With their watchful eyes
Hellstrip Heaven 