A summer poem for winter time

Ring of silver flashes on
the black skin of the still river
bone rattle the king fisher
and the song birds harken

the first light of today
a thousand greens unfold
across the hollow
sunrise modest behind

the faint wisp of cloud
gold dust on the conifer branches
sparkled with night dew
in a moment the sun fires

its ray — direct hit to
pupil, retina, brain
obliterate all other time
and sense

the afterimage written for
a moment on the back of
my skull like a thumbprint
on a window

then change again
and again

how will I change today