Winter Comes to South Texas

December’s clouds are pressing down;
a howling wind assails the plain.
It thunders in from north of town
propelling dagger drops of rain.

Fall’s lingering blackbirds yield the route
and tumble southward plunging fast
toward the bands where winter’s doubt
persists until December’s past.

My apprehension rises higher
then strikes a note of measured cheer
when hearing on a wind-strummed wire
the note it plays when winter’s here.