the winter

There is an undeniable beauty about the winter

The quiet emptiness of muffled steps over blankets of snow

In the darkness of night we make space for dreams –

Of springtime, of new lovers, blossoms peaking out

From sleepy rapture as we yawn and stretch in layers of blankets.

My heart echoes steps falling deep into the drifts – 

I keep thinking, I could have gone anywhere.

I could have done anything.

But I am here, quietly surrendering –

To the ghosts that glide over waters

Twinkling lights from islands across the bay

Shipwrecks where my soul pieces are scattered

Like lemurian crystals, aching reminders

To be picked up and held near the heart

As the veil of amnesia lifts with the mist and the blare 

Of distant fog horns lulling me to sleep like the rocking 

Of a bare-belly boat deeply cushioned under waves,

Where the stars play patterns across my face.

I kneel by the waters edge

Offering prayer to the lapping of my edges

As the reflection and the horizon become one 

Melting together and flowing ever – forward

Backward, side-ways, turning over and over

Softening stones and ages,

Carving out centuries

In the slow persistence, flowing with the movement.

There is an undeniable beauty about the winter –

When the soul takes its place in the seat

And the heart gently moans 

singing to memories and what is to come

Drinking in the sweet blue of ocean air

Pricking our lips and turning our cheek

smiles concealed by paper

marveling in the gift of sensation