The Thinking Poet blog includes a poem along with a few though-provoking questions. You can use it to ponder, journal, discuss, and/or comment in response. And if you want to, you can purchase Jim's book, Solstice To Solstice - A Memoir In Verse.
Winters
Winter, according to the calendar,
Begins at the solstice,
When days are short,
And nights long,
But anyone who has left the house
With too light a wrap
Knows otherwise.
I walk bravely today,
Facing a cold, wet wind,
Hands stuffed into pockets,
Hood pulled down
Over my forehead,
And I feel winter's cold fingers
Along my neck and shoulders and thighs.
No sleigh-ride jingle
Cures this kind of winter.
It carries no festival lights
Or yule log warmth.
This is the season that gets in
Under your coat to remind you
That her sister, death,
Is coming for you sooner than you think
With icicle talons to hold you under
Until the summer that thaws all things.
Reflection
- What reminds you of your mortality? What feelings come with that?
- What would you leave undone, if death came today?
- In your worldview, is there a “summer that thaws all things”? How does that affect your thoughts and feelings about your life?
"Winters" is reprinted from Jim Weber's Solstice To Solstice - A Memoir In Verse.