William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)

To Waken an Old Lady 1921

Old age is

a flight of small

cheeping birds

skimming

bare trees 5

above a snow glaze.

Gaining and failing

they are buffeted

by a dark wind—

But what? 10

On harsh weedstalks

the flock has rested,

the snow

is covered with broken

seedhusks 15

and the wind tempered

by a shrill

piping of plenty.