Temporary White

Woke to a quiet,

a muffled kind of peace,

and through the window pane,

a soft, clean fleece.

It fell all night,

a slow, forgiving grace,

covering the bins,

the alley's grim, dark face.

The broken crate,

its jagged edges hid,

the oil slick sheen,

beneath a frosty lid.

For a moment, all the harshness

is just smoothed away,

a brief, white lie,

before the coming day

reveals the mess,

the thaw, the gray.