Franconia's Mountains
Today the mountains were all filmed with cloud,
their insubstantial shapes were soft and faint,
the summer has gone yet winter's clarity
has not yet etched their outlines on the sky.
Slow, slow, the season seems to linger on
as soft contours belie the gathering cold,
this hazy outline speaks of spring and summer
not the hard sharp edges of a winter's day.
But I can sense the coming cold, soon
the countryside will sleep beneath the snow
with long nights, dark early mornings
and crackling cold beneath a brilliant sun.
But today there was reminder and suggestion
of next year's summer haziness, gauzy rays
of sunlight shining through thin cloud
lit up the mountains with a gentle touch.
~ P.M. Underhill