Hancock County, Maine by paul Bluestein

Hancock County, Maine

Once the Christmas lights and window-candles

have gone down cellar for another year,

winter’s thief steals the remaining light,

leaving only stillness.

Even the daybreak birds have gone quiet,

hiding in the junipers

from the roughneck Maritime wind.

Like an aging palm read by a fortune-teller,

the ice-cracked Downeast streets foretell the future –

two more months of wet-wool sweaters and duck boots

while your envy of the dog’s fur slippers and coat

deepens like the snow that started last night.