Winter

WINTER

Winter is soon.
Bark becomes exposed,
Leaves red, brown, and gold
Year's first frost strangles the ground

Hardening into dead dirt and ice
Grass decays; the balding hair on an old wizened man
Hibernation, not just for the grizzly
Grizzling bristly browning whiskers
Winter becomes grandfather of death.

Fingers of winter clench at hollow breaths
Children, rosy, bundled in love
Haunted without knowledge, unhaunted by experience
Winter becomes the snowfall, locking life inside
Freezing dead trees shiver with chills
Winter is inside us all.

Decrepit bones no longer hold life
Those under dirt freeze, dusty and foul
Winter swallows us whole, a tomb of frost
Within prison walls, the bustle in malls
People who deny their pasts all interact
Buying material goods to fill holes in themselves
Winter breathes the greed and sorrow