Winter Colors

You might think snow would flatten out the world –

Smother in white the pale remains of fall

And make a grayness – blank and unrelieved –

Which only spring can bring again to bloom.

It’s quite the opposite.  That whiteness frames

The greens, the distant purples, and the reds,

And by the magic of its contrast lights

Their failing fires, and they blaze again.

A second autumn, this first fall of snow –

A festive memory of warmer times.

There may come days when white is all the world,

And color is a near-forgotten dream,

But for today, the eye drinks full delight

From barren fields grown rich, and boldly bright.

What We Could Try

We could try beauty. 

It’s worth a shot.

Outrage and rancor have had their go,

And left us no wiser, no better, no more complete;

Rage and opinion and preened-on piety

Have come, and stayed, and had their way with the furniture,

And not much helped us to see clearly,

Act boldly, love truly, and revel in our brief, brief time.

It’s so exhausting to be right.

Let’s stop.

Let’s all be wrong, and see how it looks on us.

Let’s finally confess how little we understand,

And then get drunk and listen to music,

And make love under apple trees,

Or just sit quietly, watching a beam of light

Toy with the motes of dust that give it shape.

Let’s just try beauty, and see what it comes to,

And if it doesn’t work, it will still be beautiful,

And we can always pretend that’s enough.

A Song of Winter

At last the Queen of Fire’s fleet

Cuts through the Narrow Sea,

Her home to find, her foes to meet,

On winds of destiny.

At last the crimes of Walder Frey,

Who bathed his guests in blood,

Are answered in the ancient way

Beside the river’s mud.

At last the banners of the Wolf

Drape Winterfell once more;

Oath-joined beneath a single roof,

The Northmen brace for war.

For winter’s wind is wailing;

White ravens pierce the sky –

And the Dragon Queen is sailing –

And the Night King marches nigh;

So from the East the fire comes,

And from the North the snow,

And many will burn and freeze and bleed

Before the Spring will show.