Wisconsin Highlands

I long for the stillness of a Wisconsin Highlands early evening

No sound

but the occasional scamper of a chipmunk or squirrel

across the crusty surface of late spring snowpack

or the distant staccato tapping of a woodpecker

Night approaching

my breath is frosty, though I can feel

Winter has lost her edge

White tail deer tracks

once distinct in the deep snow

have begun to subside into random depressions from the mid-day sun

Down through the woods

the lake is still frozen,

though a sinuous moat is beginning to invade its shoreline perimeter

The sky in fading light

turning a deeper, darker blue before my eyes

Leafless branches

inky black etchings stand starkly against the sky

then slowly fade from view, as a tapestry of stars appear

expressing the vastness of the universe