Carved in Ice

Then Fall air
              blinked often
                             Summer dust falling
                             from eye lids
              squinted
                             at Winter’s
                             icy postcards
              turned
                             blades of grass
                             to crystal knives
Now Winter’s
              hob-nailed boots
                             trample ghosts of flowers
                             memories of beauty gone
              bulldozers
                             remove fallen fruit
                             rancid nut shells
                             no mulch
                             for the next generation
Climate
              sneers at unbelievers
                             Snow piles up where least expected
                                          forces the homeless
                                          into shelters, under bridges
              freezes refugees in camps
Government
              denies
                             food vouchers for senior citizens
                             supplementary breakfasts
                             for poor school children
                             to assist learning
Everywhere
                             history’s victims
                             emaciated, gunned
                             down, battered, bombed,
                             dispossessed
When a tree falls in a forest
and there are people around
do they make a sound