Snow Fizz

Snow Fizz
Betsy McKenzie

Winking dimples of flashing light
All along the drip line: trees drip their
Snowmelt into the half-frozen pond.
Zillions of snapping fish mouths?
Or is the pond fizzing, tiny bubbles of
Light, sizzling up around the edges?

The bubbling, dimpling winks of light
Only at the hems of the pond: they
Flash and semaphore on the clear water.
At the boundaries of gelid half-frozen
Crazy-crystal that frosts over the rest,
Drops flash, dimple, disappear, no trace.

Not like the sheer surface of Monet’s waters;
Six crystal sides refract, reflect the light:
White frost, crazed surface, filtering splendor.
What looks fizzing up, is dripping down,
What looks sizzling hot, energy sparkling
Is ice-water cold under winter sunshine.

The only truth here to behold is how
Ephemeral is each flash, each drip, the ice.
A model galaxy shimmering, sparkling; stars
Flashing into being, winking out in an
Instant as if I were viewing eons in a day.
But no, I am human, this is snowmelt in a winter pond.

January 29, 2006