TO WINTER LEVELS

TO WINTER LEVELS

More reluctant to leave
an alpine rift, your larch hut,
a treeline raft of rock
than last year,

a memory of winter torrents
darker than autumn
browns run together
building at the back,

your lean-to in danger,
hammock of summer
spores warp green
you roll tarpaulin,
batten down the hatches.

Rainbow slung waterfalls
deafening a goat path,
lace fern, blueberry
plunge to bracken, fathom

their crazed vortices harder
gaining winter power.

Leaving pasture meadow,
your mountain silence
only you know

somewhere higher up
it has been raining all week.