Winter

Winter; cathartic

silencer of life,

essential to every cycle,

braided in every season,

but the only one floating

between endings and beginnings.

—

Yule blessings; gifted

magical merriment painted

on an icy, blank canvas

crunching beneath

hard and careful steps

into the unknown and

introspection framed by

blizzards and stillness.

—

Frosted wakes; funerals

for the flora, fauna,

and foresight.

As tundras tell tales

with miles of frozen history,

we inhale the harshness

our ancestors knew

with our nipped and dripping noses.

—

Crystalized; fragmented

designs harken intimacy

in every free-flying flake,

every layer of sublime frost,

every mesmerized gaze,

every silent reaping of

nature’s souls.

—

Winter,

mirroring life

with death’s breath.