black coat
black hat
black scarf
black boots

he is a beauty mark
climbing the white hill

what if
you knew him

eyes, beard
and hair
black, black
and black

the sky that was blue all morning
has gone milky all afternoon

now the milk darkens

in snowladen pines
a red bird flickers
and goes out

the man has gone over

but the hill
a white beauty mark
climbs the black sky

Tom Koontz
The Humpback Barn 1996