Mandy Macdonald

Coming Snow

My viburnum tree has not flowered this year. Instead of its tiny, honey-scented pink blossoms, it blooms with goldfinches, blackcaps, blue tits, sparrows. As a bitter wind rises from the north, they dart and shimmer among my bird feeders like ruffled leaves. Soon I will have run out of sunflower seeds: the birds gorge on them, eating summer to survive winter.

snowflakes
five white spots along
a goldfinch's tail