Carpenter Lake

Cold clear air
A crystalline atmosphere
Seeming so fragile
It might shatter with the slightest blow

Low fog formed over the riverbed
Where icy water
Still warmer than air
Vapourised and froze
To drift over the lake’s recessed floor

Fir and spruce draped with white
Snow had turned back the dark taciturn mountains
Like white linens over a deep green duvet
And the whole world seemed more alive

Awakened in the winter calm