TheBanyanTree: Looking for Winter

[Margaret R. Kramer]

Looking for Winter
By Margaret R. Kramer

i can’t feel the north wind
on my cheeks
as i rush
wrapped in a long black coat
from car to building
i wear fleece mittens
to protect my delicate fingers

the snow may fall
but i’m barely aware of it
as i rev up the snowblower
and move the flakes out of my way
the machine blown snow
shapes a tunnel
to my garage

the solstice has passed
but i still begin my day
without the sun
moonbeams are my guests
when i sit down to dinner
night is at its fever pitch
as i slide between flannel sheets

if i let it, winter will zoom by
and i won’t notice
and it will be spring
and the flowers will be blooming
and the birds will be singing
and then i’ll realize i didn’t take advantage
of the lessons winter teaches

so i go north
away from the city
and traffic and deadlines
and spinouts and rollovers
to triangular pine trees
to smooth ice
and trackless snow

the waterfalls are frozen in time
rivers are stopped in mid-flow
the trees shake off their snow
creating a mini-snowstorm
as it cascades to the ground
i suck in the cold air
my heart beats a little faster

the cold sneaks in between the fibers
of my gloves
it manages to break through the plastic
of my boot soles
my fingers and toes experience
a delicious tingling
as they generate their own warmth

and there’s silence
a silence which reaches out
into infinity
and slings back again
only a chickadee’s buzz
and a woodpecker’s persistent knocking
reach my ears

i stop for a moment while
large flakes of snow
begin to cover my tracks
an orange full moon
explodes out of the east
i found it
i found winter

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at earthlink.net

http://www.polarispublications.com
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http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

Springtime is the land awakening.  The March winds are the morning yawn.
~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You