William Carlos Williams （1883-1963）

Old age is

a flight of small

cheeping birds

skimming

bare trees

above a snow glaze.

Gaining and failing

they are buffeted

by a dark wind ——

But what？

On harsh weedstalks

the flock has rested ——

the snow

is covered with broken

seed husks

and the wind tempered

with a shrill

piping of plenty.