O Waken an Old Lady by William Carlos Williams Old age is a flight of small cheeping birds skimming bare trees above a snow glaze. Gaining and failing they are buffeted by a dark wind — But what? On harsh weedstalks the flock has rested, the snow is covered with broken seed husks and the wind tempered by a shrill piping of plenty. What clues do these supporting details provide about the poem's main idea?