You can smell it in the breeze,
when the wind changes
Picking up speed as it moves from West to Northwest
Then a few flakes, tentative and sparse
followed by waves of them, thicker and stronger
covering sidewalks, roofs and parking lots.
Cars overnight become all the same colour
buried monuments in silent rows
A few brave souls will venture out
leaving temporary footsteps
holes that are filled within minutes
as the white softens every sound
In the morning the frozen ground shimmers,
muted sunlight over a smooth landscape
china white and fragile