December Afternoon

Trees cast long purple shadows across the flat snow.
Cats pounce on voles in the waving sunlit yellow grass.
Red barns share hillsides with white farmhouses.
Flocks of birds surge and swerve against the blue sky.
Rust prairie patchworks with lines of dark corn stubble.
White layers cap the almost black branches of evergreens in rows.
Horses stomp and breathe out bright white steam.
Ginger leaves cling to oak trees at the edges of woods.
At dusk, clouds of amber and apricot and smokey blue grey slide in.
These are the colors of Wisconsin in winter.