as a snowflake
falling from the sky
soft as the wings
on a butterfly

soft as the leaves
on a weeping willow
the fluffy goose down
stuffed inside my pillow

soft as the hair
on a rabbit
as the velvet wine
in a bottle of Cabot

soft until
it poured down buckets
the clouds above
caused a ruckus

then I hardened
as my world darkened
hard as a wooden broomstick
even harder than a ton of bricks

I'll not catch the raindrops
running off my rooftop
they froze into icicles
pointy, jabbing rising hills