Time – Page 88 – Iron Haiku

bitter grievances
at the holiday table
long past time for peace
–
unrelenting
a winter river
choked with ice

waiting for the thaw
beneath fallen leaves and snow
a box turtle sleeps
–
frosted windows-
deeply burrowed
under blankets

the year’s longest night
herald the winter solstice
ere the morning comes
–
watching our breath-
the black of night
pierced by stars

early morning haze
the pale tint of the full moon
just above the trees
–
first light-
the fog and I
rise together

absent sounds of night
muffled by the blanket of
winter’s arrival
–
sudden snow
a southbound flight
interrupted

I’ve changed all my locks
somehow your keys still fit in
and still turn me on
–
cold winds blow
your call comes through
in the dead of night

stolen innocence-
inured to constant violence
and lost empathy
–
distant wildfires
a false sunset in
the eastern sky

air laced with woodsmoke
thick with a rich silence as
the rain turns to snow
–
twilight
listening to
the snow fall

the low midday sun
shadows of geese noiselessly
passing overhead
–
dancing water
a clingy black shift
of morning ice

the hours before dawn
weaving my way back home through
the thinnest of light
–
gently becoming
as one with
the winter sky