Winter's First Break

The air is sharp, a sudden freeze.

Outside, the dark pond waits.

Then something splits with jarring ease,

beyond the garden gates.

A sound like glass that starts to fall,

a report, sharp and quick.

Against the stillness, holding all,

a sudden, violent trick.

The surface, once so smooth and deep,

now wears a jagged scar.

A promise it could never keep,

beneath a distant star.

It makes you flinch, that sudden tear,

a brittle, breaking trust.

Confirming what you always fear,

turning to dust.