The lake is frozen

Ice is cracked and crackling

Last month we had small patches of open water

That ducks found

Eagles stood on the ice edge

Watching the ducks

Now the only birds I see are in the trees and dry flower stalks

Perched in the bushes

Little birds, chickadees and flickers and sparrows and cardinals

Doves waddle in the snow underneath the feeders

After a snowfall I see bird footprints crisscrossing

All around the house

The birds look inward

Until the ice is gone.