Winter roars her bully-yell till her sky fills up dark as a whale
Where wolf had walked as did men, the tracks their paw and foot did pen
Oh oh oh oh oh now just looks like a road again
Winter froze her favorite well then boarded up with timber felled
Her favorite well, her best-loved spot that milked what most had quick forgot-- oh oh oh oh oh
What once was bright as sun's lapel and woke us every night to tell
Us what befalls our sleeping selves now arrives like the year's first snow: apologetic under toe, falls down dumb, then melts right off
Gone gone gone gone and forgot gone gone and forgot
Gone and forgot gone, her best-loved spot
Winter hoards her little birds in shivering unspeaking herds
Their bones so petite and polite form fists round fig-sized hearts ---oh oh oh oh oh
Like warm cinders tumbling upwards
Oh winter rang her bully bell and fullmoon's face fell quiet and pale
As a doubloon buried in backyard with the bones and the rain while the smokestacks raised
Their half-mile flags at half mast till all the ice cracked
Then all the well-wishing coins flew up in a bright copper-nickel geyser
To remind her what was
Up in a bright copper-nickel geyser
The well-wishing coins
Rang her bully bell
And woke us every night to tell
Us how our sleeping selves arrive
At our favorite well, our best-loved spot
Now gone
Gone gone gone and forgot
Gone gone and forgot
Gone and forgot