WINTER SOLSTICE
At any time of the year
you measure the dimensions of
the sky
one constellation at a time
give it perspective in terms
that you can understand
but at this darkest point
the nadir of the calendar
stars become much more
than pinpoints on a chart
sometimes it's all you have to
steer by
and you begin to weary of the
darkness
there is so much of it
Having lost the light
you announce yourself with
candles
in every window
drape strings of icicles
from eave to
eave
calling softly into the winter
sky
over here over here

Lovely write ~~~ I am now a follower.
ReplyDeletethank you, Helen, on both counts. And Happy Solstice =)
DeleteGosh, that's nice. I love a small, big poem.
ReplyDeleteI do too. Long poems done right are wonderful, but you really have to invest a LOT of time and energy to keep up. W.S. Merwin writes stuff like that, and you have to pay attention, hard, to keep up with him. Albert Goldbarth is another.
DeleteI write poems partly because I have to, and I haven't the staying power to write novels, and since I like to get in and get out on the same day, they end up being short and 'stuffed'.
And thanks, Laurel. Always nice to know you're out there...=)