Long before the winter came
the branches gave the leaves.
September gave the season rain
October the season breeze.
November gave the wet days
that dripped from grey-black skies.
December gave the leaf-bare boughs
and the wind that faintly died
then the dark and puffy clouds
that matched the sky for size.
Clouds gave the snow
that blanketed the ground.
The leaving of the birds gave
the winter’s silent sound.