A nuthatch clings to a window sill in winter, searching for frozen insects and pupae tucked away in the cracks. The scene is small and quiet, but it turns on one detail: the bird keeps "one eye on the glass," watching the reflection while it feeds. In that same glass, the speaker sees their own face rising up faintly behind the bare trees.
The final image is the strangest. The reflection becomes "odd ice / on a sideways pond," as if the window were a frozen surface turned on its side, stuck in "year-round winter." The speaker seems to feel a mild, reflective chill, a sense of looking at themselves as something cold and slightly unfamiliar. The mood is hushed and observant, with a touch of loneliness. The bird is busy with survival, while the speaker simply watches, and the poem leaves open whether that winter belongs only to the season or also to the speaker.