AT LIBERTY

by Anne Perlman

Snow lies in claws
on each plank of the porch.
Thin and fierce at the tips.

Preening, prodigal
in their brilliance,
these crystals flex,
bend the light on the wind.
Prisms of a self
complete as a fly’s eye,
they live off light,
give no heat.
Their harshness fixes us.

As our bodies curve in a frozen arc
toward them
(only our breath is warm)
their dazzle darkens.
They melt.

Poet and former journalist Anne Perlman (1919–2002) often wrote poetry inspired by science and the natural world. “At Liberty” was originally published in the magazine Science81, and later in a collection titled Sorting It Out (1982). She was married to longtime San Francisco Chronicle science editor David Perlman. Reprinted with permission.

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