Silver Filigree

The icicles wreathing
   On trees in festoon
Swing, swayed to our breathing:
   They’re made of the moon.

She’s a pale, waxen taper;
   And these seem to drip
Transparent as paper
   From the flame of her tip.

Molten, smoking a little,
   Into crystal they pass;
Falling, freezing, to brittle
   And delicate glass.

Each a sharp-pointed flower,
   Each a brief stalactite
Which hangs for an hour
   In the blue cave of night.
Credit

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on December 8, 2018, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“Silver Filigree” was published in Nets to Catch the Wind (Harcourt, Brace, 1921).