The Druidic College

Water glazes onto the branches
hanging over the stream, shields of ice
swell the fingertips and nodules
that tickle the stream below.

Icicles drip from ledges and ridges,
spires of glass, dancing to the music of the sun.
Drip, drip, onto the path, forming a sleek pateen
on the carpet of dirt and moss.

Rippling waves of ice paint the rocky crag;
ice encases salal leaves with a thick sheen
unbending, unmoving, knowing that
they will be safe until the thaw.

Hoar coats fir and skeletal vine maples
as the falls echo up from the basin
and surround all within their reach.
Rocky vistas pateened with ice.

Icy bubbles along the streambank,
frothy, glassy, stacked up on rocks;
commas of ice dangling
as eternal stream defies winter.