atlanta snowstorm

 on these magnolias the snow should stick
a sudden weight of winter on each heart
no sense of purpose in the frozen art
paths made treacherous and roads turned so slick
far better to be slow than to be quick
to get there safely than to lightly start
upon a journey we are not so smart
as to distinguish the truth from the trick
winter invades it comes as a surprise
this freight of change this absence of all heat
a punishment for when we were so bold
as to believe the warm and tender lies
but soon the grey and soggy sight of sleet
reminds us that we too can feel the cold

if we begin

 if we begin with any sense of how
the choices made arrived at final sense
with virtue and with vice we might dispense
and leave the field to neutral power now
the wind that blows the last snow from the bough
reveals the paint is peeling from the fence
the trees behind us here seem not so dense
and windy voices make some kind of vow
rumours abound regarding how we fight
against the powers that set the laws in place
but not for those who cannot will the calm
we're here in deepest coldest winter night
those are not roses we see on each face
still only one of us may bear the palm