Winter

An exploration of winter. Third in Angel Wings Benefit Contest, January 2020.

Winter

Circles and cycles,
the earth turns, leans toward sleep
and the days draw in,
nights sharp and brittle
with bristling designs on the windows,
ghostly messages from Jack,
the frosty herald of the freeze.
The world rolls on,
revolving in the darkness of space,
the stars etched bright in the silken sky
and breath hanging clouded,
dissolving in the still night air.
So the cold rasps harder in the throat
as the days crawl from the solstice,
herding us through the dark depths
of winter, onwards through time
until a sudden morning
brings the sound of flowing water,
the melt dripping from the roofs,
gutters running with the rushing stream,
as spring loosens the frozen grip
of the dormant season.
We turn in bed
to face the rising sun.


Line Count: 24
Free Verse
Prompt: Write a poem about winter without using the following words: snow, ice, snowman, blizzard, Santa, Christmas, New Year's, wind.