With branches coated topside, white with snow,
And blue the shadows, stretched along the ground,
Trees adding sharpness, a wintry view on show,
With dazzling flickering sunshine, such can astound,
The observing eye, which will discern and know,
Each picture of nature’s wealth, times made renowned,
And on a bench, in silence, sat a crow,
Held captive by a vista, with no sound,
Then flapping his wings, flew off, swooping quite low,
Leaving behind a frozen prospect to dumfound,
Thus looking here and there, and too and fro,
Across this painted scene, a heart is surely bound.
© Ernestine Northover
