After the Ice Storm

After the ice storm
Mushrooms budded from the grass
And waves glazed the shore with small wonders:
A fragile bird bending her beak
To grab a morsel from the mud
Stalagmites rising and grasping the spindly willow shoots
While figurines
Poised like a dense flock of penguins
Performed an idle dance
Before a leafless bow
Remembering how to praise.

—Eric Nelson