Winter
To the snow bound mind
Glowing stars of rainbow hues;
Red and green kaleidoscopes
Fall from the sky,
Their burning embers
Find holes to fill
And remain
Glistening in the night.
Music heard on frozen breezes
Floats gently through the air,
Intermingling with voices
Whispered softly, barely heard
Above the cold quiet.
Glittering gems,
Purest white,
Each separate falling crystal
Finding collective thought
Upon arrival at their
Final resting place.
Gifts given to the world,
Sounds of laughter, tears and song,
Weaving in and out,
Form patterns barely noticed;
Warmly embraced.
Muffled footsteps falter on
Glistening padding,
Bearing joy on shoulders
Bent with labor.
Silver faces gently smile
Upon a sleeping world
Nestled in blankets
Woven from the joys and despairs
Of man.
The birth of dawn
Brings unrivaled radiance
To a world darkened by the bitterness
Of its own indifference,
Signaling change
On clear horizons.
(2012)
I have always had a soft spot for descriptive riddles, the kind where you hear them and know what the riddle is about, but you realize you have to break down the individual segments to fully understand them. The word winter brings back memories of times when I would grab a walking stick and wander through the snowy nights, taking in the brilliantly lit shades of windows as lamps tried to peep through, or Christmas lights that were jus put up trying to capture an audience even in the stillness of midnight. Winter is such a lonely sort of season, so quiet and still. If you allow yourself to get caught up in the emotions of nature, I feel it would be impossible for you not to feel self reflective. What comparisons to I myself have with the dead trees, with the snow that sucks out most of the surrounding sounds of mankind, with the trees and animals that hibernate in weakened states only to become active once more, going about their businesses as if that hibernation wasn't a small miracle in itself? The thought of the joys and hopes of man in the one time when they feel it is appropriate to be universally cheerful and amiable toward their fellow man has always been a topic of interest to me.
