A Heavy Frost

Icy fronds which crackle as I walk along the street,

Marking where there would have been just leave beneath my feet,

But these have now been froze and are pearly white with frost,

And all their brown and wilted forms have in the night been lost.

The pavements which last night were damp with water from the rain,

Are now this morning sheets of ice no skater would disdain;

The water dripping from the taps outside the houses’ walls,

Has frozen into longish spikes and now no longer falls;

The trees have sparkling branches, with their leaves all tipped with ice,

Looking from a distance just like little grains of rice.

The pond has frozen over, and now birds across it walk,

Ducks and geese and moorhens, and as well a lonely stork;

There’s something so attractive in a cold and frosty dawn,

When the sun is just emerging as another day is borne;

Providing one is well wrapped up and dressed for bitter cold,

An icy landscape usually is delightful to behold.