Weather report

Christian Century, Jan 11, 2005 by Robert Siegel

Weather report

   The snow in North Dakota asks a question
   with no question mark, no capital letter,
   to indicate where it begins and ends
   or what lies in the middle, for that matter.
   The question is white and drifts above the cab
   of the snowplow while in its orange light
   people lean into the wind along the curb,
   digging out cars that vanish in the night.

   At home their dogs are silent, hearing no sound.
   The cattle huddle and freeze, and buffalo
   crossing the buried fence, free now to roam,
   stand silver and stiff as nickels in the dawn--eyes
   frozen wide and blank as if they tried
   to comprehend the question while they died.