Winter Poem

I like what beginnings promise.

i like how december is lit up like a million christmas trees

to counter the bleak gnawing underneath the surface

i like how people say ‘may peace be with you’

because they mean it and isn’t that what we all truly hope for, anyway?

i like how december is a thirty one day distraction

for the starkness that lies ahead

for the lonely nights accompanied by the howling wind

the middles can be rough

that’s when the hard stuff comes our way

that’s when we may slip. or fall.

and yet, there’s romanticism in the desolate streets

in the desire for warmth, for human touch

for winter to save us, somehow.

and come the season’s end — the darkest season’s end —

we feel awakened. we feel like we can begin again.

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