Wintry precipitation
Freezing rain –  dropping temperatures
Dripping water forming ice around cold surfaces
      Solid and clear – transparent
Every limb, branch, twig and bud is surrounded
      Encased in ICE –
             and adorned with crystalline icicles that sparkle
             when lit by street lights and sunlight
      Behold the beauty of this winter wonderland!
             Beautiful – but oh, the weight of the beauty        
      Small branches bearing the weight display their
             tapered crystal pendants
      But there is a cost to this frigid beauty
             as the weight of accumujlating ice
                   becomes a burden
Limbs and branches  begin to 
                   Snap  –  break   –    fall
                                landing with a THUD!
        Other limbs bend low – bowing under the weight               
                 until the burden is too great
When bending and bowing were not enough
        The tree is UPROOTED! – It’s foundation is pulled up!
        The extracted rootsystem is EXPOSED for all to see

The sight of the exposed roots caused me to ponder
        how human beings, like trees,
               bend and bow under the weight of icy words
                    until they snap and break under the weight
                        of criticism and unkind words

As for the words of the offender whose icy words are intnetionally
            used to intimidate, offend and belittle others
               do they not accumulate until the frigid weight and
                   beauty of transparancy surround the offender?   
                                 Once uprooted and exposed 
                               icy words melt away forming only
                            crystal pendants that shimmer in the light