Daily Prompt: The frozen pond

The pond that once held frogs and water boatmen

Swimming intermittently between the fronds of weed

Allowed dragonflies to dip; hawk-like hunters across the surface

And was the habitat for newts, their long-tails trailing as they swam,

Is now frigid; solid with ice that doesn’t even crack

Beneath the force of a snowball.

Nothing splashes in the deep, dark depths

No heron stands at the edge statuesque and still

Seeking the slightest movement to spear with its beak.

Instead there is a still, glassiness reflecting the blue winter sky

The deer cannot drink; and the ducks can only skate across the surface

For the sub-zero, arctic winds have brought the beast from the east

And we must abide the glacial freeze as bleak winter bites.

Photo and poem copyright Englepip©

via Daily Prompt: Frigid