Winter's Tale

When it is time

to bring in the sunken

summer sun

the barn will

light up like

a satellite barreling

through space

a bright star shielded

from the void

as it will be until

there is no more light

Winter buries life

in a casket of ice

lying atop the hard

frozen soil

forlorn as a deer

cut off from

its herd

when I climb

the fields

of untrammeled snow

geese honk at my

trespassing

as I forgive

their trespasses

against me

if winter were my home

I would forever flee

Richard Strauss’

Don Juan symphony

surges on the airwaves

a paean to lust to life

to the fatal lure

of love that snares

the unwitting seducer

who will hibernate

with the sun

no heat no light

no sustenance

in the frigid dark

I will open wide

the barn door

and let the rays

of renewal

spread across

the blackness

of winter’s shroud

which weighs

so heavily

upon my shoulders