A POEM - WINTER

 

Winter

When the geese are flying south

And the sky is grey, my dears,

Close your eyes, and lift your nose;

Listen with your careful ears.

Feel the winter coming on,

Hear it in the crackling trees;

Note the crisping, quivering wind

Sharply snapping at their leaves.

Feel it on the windowpanes –

Chilly glass on fingertips –

Mark the biting of the air,

Heated breath on numbing lips.

See it in the early eves,

In the glowing sunset where

Shadows of the naked trees

Rattle in the biting air.

Watch the nuthatch and the wren;

They know it is time once more

To abandon careful nests,

As they’ve done each year before.

Let it rest upon your face,

Let it reach and pull you in.

See how pretty nature is

When she ushers winter in.

~Barbara Vance~