Tevet

Look back one more time
At the lights in the window
Flickering, warming
Smiling sadly
To send me on my way
A tear trickles down my cheek
Towards my heart
I will store the lights in my heart
As I throw my scarf over my shoulder
And set off into the forest

Trudging between the trees
On a carpet of frosted earth
The sky – a sheet of silver
But the air is a swirl
Specks of diamond dust
Sucking my breath away
To the side – nothing
But the scampering of rabbits
And the prowling of foxes among the leaves
It’s not a sad sight
But my spirit cries
For what, I do not know
For the solitude
The emptiness
The expanse
But cold, so desperately cold
And I am only a traveller

Shoulders hunched against the wind
Fingers bitter from exposure
I tried to put on a coat
But still the cold crept in
Until it became too much
And there rose in me – a song
Summoned from the depths
Bursting from purified lips
In a cascade of rising notes
A reminder
Of a time of colour and blossom
Breaking through the canopy
For a moment – wintery sunshine
Casting light
Gifting warmth
Down to the forest floor
Until it, too, fades
An imprint of a memory
Residing on the soul
Slipping through my fingers
Come back
Lead me through the trees
Draw me home to happier times

Out of the forest now
Into a wilderness
Of frozen grass
Scraggly bushes and low hills
Blanketed with whiteness
Extending, extending
And my heart sighs
Still such a way left to go
But I know
That just beyond the rise
Lies the stream
Where the snow begins to melt