Snowing for Days

It’s elegant the way snow settles

On the branches: as if the dawn sequoia nestles

A woman in a white kimono. Below the city bustles

But here I can recall a Chinese cherry, its petals

Once covered the ground before a wooden chapel,

Still as the bird house topped with a snow white steeple;

The snowbird, junco, nuthatch, kindly fed by people,

Disappear at day’s end, to wonder where they go unsettles,

But we too retreat and sleep and in the morning warm the kettle.

REVISION (okay, this one really isn't written for children.)
 (my note from last year reads that this one still needs lots of work, but I think this revision stands.)

It’s elegant the way snow settles

On the branches: as if the dawn sequoia

Nestles a woman in a white kimono.

the city bustles despite the cold.

Once a Chinese cherry’s petals

covered the ground before a wooden chapel,

The bird house is empty with a snow white steeple;

The snowbird, junco, nuthatch, kindly fed by people,

Disappear at day’s end, to wonder where just unsettles,

We sleep and in the morning light the kettle.

2/17/2014