When you close your eyes
Does it feel like winter or spring?
When you feel the wind in your hair and the sun on your skin
Is the warmth coming or going?
And when you wake in the morning
And see the light peeking through the window
Do you see the golden glow of spring
Or the dull sky of winter?
And when you are driving toward the sun at the end of the day
And the colors melt from bright blue to pink to orange to violet
Is it the sunset you see
Or is it the end of daylight?
I know that you feel the cold on more than your skin
And it aches deep into your bones
I know you think the night is too long and the skies are too grey,
And all around you seems dead,
And grief is great when the darkness falls,
But with every passing day the sun is in the sky longer
And the sky grows a little bluer.
The same wind that brought with it snow and bitter cold
Is carrying on its wings warmer days
Somewhere in the new spring skies
The swallow is returning to her home with joyous cries.
Somewhere along a mountainside
Snow melts and gives way to green grass
And the fawn comes out to drink in the early hours
And as you look,
What once was dead and burdened
Is bearing green buds again
And the eyes you have not seen in months
Are staring into yours
Full of wonder and curiosity and welcome.
There is a sound snow makes as it falls.
It is a silence that is more than silence,
A silence that calls in the darkness of night.
And perhaps it changed too quickly,
Autumn one day and winter the next,
But you will soon wake up
And the rose bush will be blooming
Or there will suddenly be bluebonnets and prairie-fire
By the roadside as you drive.
Every year the world descends into darkness
And the air grows colder each day
The sun refuses to shine and warm the ground
But every year the geese fly overhead
And the monarch butterflies dance across the sky
And the world begins to wake up from her long sleep.
The earth is coming back to life
For the winter cannot last forever.
Spring is dawning.
Image via Raisa Zwart Photography
