Winter/Spring

 

The same birds

that sang so

exuberantly

yesterday

today peep

questioningly

as the wind

drives flurries

into a momentary

wall of white

Within an hour

the sun is blinding

in a blue sky

So

we'll start over

The thaw

The light

The beginnings

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Hopeful dawn

 

Above the dirty

slumping drifts

a cheerful congregation

of birds

sings

a giddy dawn song

amid bare branches

If even nature

can be fooled

by a February thaw

surely

our foolish hopes

of spring

can be forgiven

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Omens

 

Full moon

with a paler

ring

I've read

I've heard

of omens

But what are

omens

but self-fulfilling prophecies

What if clouds

obscured this moon

or I didn't chance

to see it

What if

all I see

is a moon

with a paler

ring

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Lucy

 

Conspirator

Comforter

Clown

If joy

was a face

it might be
your face

Reminding us

to always play

always dance

always be

joy

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Moonish

 

A whisper

a whimsy

a wish

a glimpse

of the ghost

of Sister Moon

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Embraced

 

At dawn

Lady Sun

wrapped her arms

around

the world

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Hold your hopes

 

February

swerves

giddy

into March

weeks

before any thaw

can be counted

as spring

But hope

knows

no season

and doesn't respond

to cautions

Hope

is

patiently

impatient

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Sleepy

 

Sleepy snow

falls slow

dissolving

before

it reaches earth

Drowsy

I watch

it sift down

dreaming

of yesterday's

and tomorrow's

blue skies

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Dawn dove

 

At dawn

a dove

begins to call

day

day

day

Today

is your day

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Path

We follow

a path

that seems

direct

A to B

Maybe we see

only our feet

or our destination

ahead

Only

looking back

will show us

the worn ways

the wavering

the wandering

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Promise

 

Again

I have broken

my promise

The promise

to myself

to breathe

to move

to see

to feel

The promise

to my cramped limbs

my crowded mind

my crushed soul

The promise

to you

sky

river

sun

The promise

to today

that

makes

tomorrow

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Doldrum

 

Caught

in a doldrum

of cold

and colder

gray

and grayer

snow

and more snow

higher

and higher

But

each day

is longer

and nearer

to spring

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Oasis

 

I pause

to bask

in the sun

beside

my oasis

my portable summer

my personal

green

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Daydream 2/15

 

By the snow-shore
I watch
the wind
sculpting
the snow-sand
into frozen
waves
Perhaps
I'll board a
sailboat
and drift
westward
where the snow-sea
meets
the blue-sea
of the sky
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Against nature

We don

layers

or defy the cold

shivering

in too few

we coax

or curse

our cars to life

and travel

short distances

or far

We breathe in

air

that feels like

icy fire

and numbs our faces

and fingers

Why aren't we

cozy

and sleeping

the like rest of nature?

Are we stronger

or just

incapable

of rest?

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Closer

 

Winter's confinement

hones

my hunger

to be closer

to the blue sky

the sun's warmth

even

the icy rush

of wind

that chokes my breath

and numbs my fingers

with frightening

speed

I want to walk

the edge

between cold

and comfort

fresh air

and frozen

I want to feel

alive

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Valentine

 

I braved

the cold

to send my love

to the river

To remind myself

it still flows

beneath

the snow

breaking through

at the bends

and carving

strange runes

in the ice

moving beyond

winter

into sometime

spring

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Cloudy Between

 

Snow falls

from a tissue

of clouds

so thin

Lady Sun

reaches through

and turns

flakes

to myriad

of mirrors

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Balance

 

Colder

but

brighter

bluer

longer

closer

to

greener

warmer

summer

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Dawn to Dusk

 

Lady Sun

greets me

from the east 

with open arms

of rainbows

Later

she sweeps

her skirts of flame

as she

turns to the west

with one last

smile

over her shoulder

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Earlier

 

Sister Moon

smiles

slyly

from behind

our shadow

darker

than the dark

before dawn

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Pandemic Winter

 

This long

cold

lonely

season

has left us

stripped bare

Our finery

and our fake-outs

our glamour

and our gab

our pretentions

and our protections

all torn away

by winds

too strong

to break

Now we stand

empty

as winter trees

their branches

reaching

out to each other

across the distance

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Queen of Winter

Lady Sun

dons

a crown of rainbows

queen

of cold

queen

of winter

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Sundog

 

Lady Sun's

rainbow skirt

donned

only when

winter's cold

is brutal

and bright

The colder

the air

the wider the circle

Spinning out color

that blurs back

into light

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Brutal beauty

 

Winter's brutal beauty

returns

The blue sky

The snow-draped pines

The spikes of golden grass

Awakened by

the bite of the cold

and 

the blinding light

reflected

in the snow crystals

tossed on the wind

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Glimpse

At the first

feeble ray

peeking

over my shoulder

I turn,

eager for your face,

Lady Sun

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Blue evening

 

At the end

of a gray day

the clouds deepen

to almost-blue

No flaming streamers

no rosy billows

Just blue

fading

to black

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Incognito Sun

 

For moments

at a time

mere glimpses

Lady Sun

brightens

behind a veil

of clouds

at times

so thin

colors can

bleed through

whisper blue

hush blush

the ghost

of gold

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