Nature prepares her final work. She begins to strip her canvas of almost everything leaving only little pockets of colour, leaves and berry to cluster on the bleak structure of the land

Her command of colour rises to another understanding. The shades of grey, the monochrome from white to black begin to solidify. Falling temperatures hold and freeze everything. The days shorten. The nights lengthen, throwing moon and starlight across the glistening canvas. She dazzles with storm and blizzard. Rest for her will not be easy.

Our poets, who have seen this often, know it's meaning. Their verse evocatively relays their thoughts, their musings, their understanding of all that surrounds the closing of nature's year.

In fifty poems we take you on their inspiring journey, reflecting on the miracle of winter.