poem

 Winter RequiemDying days of light snow,Giant flakes fluttering down like ashes.No one ever mourns the end of winter.The sputterings of spring in early March elicitEager hope rather than sad remembrancesOf frozen days of the dark solstice.Let us acknowledge this morning of silenceTo honor the passing of the frigid balm.We ought to thank itFor its blanketing solace,For its unexpectant calm,For the space that opensUp when it freezesAnd all the water expands To become the ice for our bruisesAnd the snow to soothe our open wounds.The end of summer evokes the melancholy Last days by the sea shore,The way the waves lap at your toesLike dogs who don ’t want you to go.Even the end of autumn stingsWhen all the trees finally go bare,When the Northern windsWhistle and prick the flesh like steel pins.It ’s not a fait accompli That winter doesn ’t get a proper burial;First snow, the frozen pondThe festive holiday lights.There ’s plenty to miss.But it lasts so, so long.One begins to doubt if the livingWill ever really rise from the dead.The dark truth of it  Wears one down.But sadness is always more true than happiness.Some of us are more alive in sorrow,In the empty handedness of total loss.The string of the balloon slippingFrom my 3 year old girl ’s fingers,Me loving my dad mostWhen he got in the car and drove away.The way the windRidges the waters of the pondLike a flock of starlingsMurmurating in rhythmic random whooshes.But you look to the skyAn...

Source: Buckeye Surgeon - March 14, 2021 Category: Surgery Authors: Jeffrey Parks MD FACS Source Type: blogs