Endless Winter’s End

These days how long these Winters linger-on – cold days, foggy days, forlorn days,

How bare the trees; how dull the light; how black the ice; how bitter cold the past.

These days Winters blasts bring snow days; blizzards whiting-out my younger days

When Spring days’ flames danced playfully – then how green the grass, how sweet the corn.

Then Winter’s dawn held no dead dread; then the year’s cool side laid beside the fireside;

How holly-sharp the wind; how berry-bright the days; how late dark chocolate nights.

These days how long the Winter water lies – wet days; rainy days; days flooded by my past.

How muddy now the grass; how slippery under foot; how perilous the path to my lost youth.

Summer’s time is overtime to me and Autumn’s musky glut is fallen and too far gone;

How rich the purple plums; how berry black the jam; how far away are they

From where I am. These days the Winter carries on and on –

Born on the leaven wind rising from the east it sweeps-up life like dead leaves

It leaves me cold and feeling too old to outlast another endless winter’s end.

Bentham, February 2014