winter for all

It’s when autumn

in its final throes

surrenders

and one morning

you draw in

a peculiar breath

thick with frigid air

that you realize

the winter’s made

its presence.

but it’s none more

striking than

when it rolls out

its carpet

of arbitrary white

that besieges all—

people and things alike.

and if inspected closely

 it is only the work of tiny

particles.

that they manage to

attach themselves wildly

to one another and

form a mantle large enough

to rule, is in itself

provocative.

not much else is known

but that they melt and dry away

into the ether.

nothing much is heard from them

until the next snow.

they band together

simply under no

pretensions, rules, or prejudice.

each may be different in form,

but not in structure.

and the color that binds them is

arbitrary.

but snowflakes have no

knowledge of these things

and the climate is alone

responsible for their behavior.

and that begs

to question if

it really is hopeless

to unify beings more

intelligent

than snowflakes.

or must the climate