Winter Light

Cherry

By Jane Hyphen

Wed, 28 Dec 2022
  • 1036 reads
13 comments
 

 

White bright winter light

In blink flickers that burn

We lie low, hemmed days

Patient as winter flowers

Suspended for the long game

A solitary bee, deviant

Who braves the snapping 

Air filled with silver shards

The ground furred with white

Deepening in the frigid earth

Stay in tonight, shut the door

This perish will be silent

The moon radiant, complicit

 

Black frames stand, starkers

Lying they are dead

Bud pips, tight lipped

Holding for longer days

Under these melting rooves

A sleep spell whispers

Duvet days, the fog

In which the year was lost

And fairy lit faces wrinkled

Tell that story yet again

As hearts are winded by how

Time has screwed us over

 

On crystal pavements

Oak leaves glued in layers

Like the pages of our years

Which died and flew away

The light will change

Sad stories will be swallowed

Like the bones of trees

Inside the pretty drapes of spring

And summer’s heaving curtains

Draw in autumn gusts to

Return the bright white light

The pinch of winter tales

Just as snowdrops come again 

And stab the bitten soil

 

Certificate U
Poem
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

You have captured these days perfectly - well done

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you Insert for your comment and the cherries. 

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Jane,

that third stanza was so impressive. I loved how you captured the idea of Oak leaves glued in layers on crystal pavements, though I do hope those freezing temperatures won't strike again. You've adapted the poem perfectly to describe all the seasons coming together, to eventually start all over again under Winter light.

Very much enjoyed reading. Hope your Christmas was enjoyable, and Best wishes for the New Year.

 Jenny.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Jenny, thank you for reading. Those temperatures were something else, especially for those of us who work outside, it was punishing. I've been walking my, now one dog, (I lost my elderly one in November) looking down at all those Oak leaves layering up on the pavements, they take a long time to decompose.

Thank you for your good wishes and season's greetings to you too. x 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

You've caught much of the frozen, waiting, hibernating feel of the depth of winter – land and us. I've been working on something much shorter meandering through the seasons for the IP this week.

Looking forward to noticing the snowdrps stab through the bitten soil! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you for your comment Rhiannon. I certainly feel like I could hibernate right now. I'm looking forward to seeing the first green shoots coming through too. In fact if I go out and move the leaf debris, I am sure there will be some poking through. 

The IP - thank you, I didn't know.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I'm so sorry you lost Sir Pirrip, I hope you are ok? Loss seems frozen in Winter, hard to think of anything else when there is no growing outside to carry one on.

Like Jenny, I liked your description of pavements very much - I would not want to stand around while a dog read every P on pillar and post when it was really cold, shows you are a true poet that these beautiful images came from the experience 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you so much Di for remembering his name! I've been trying to write about him but I don't want to trivialise his many qualities. He was almost fifteen and I don't actually feel too sad, it's more that he was part of my confidence because he was so confident himself.

Walking little Kai isn't too bad, we're both wrapped up. Thank you for reading and commenting.

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I'm glad you are not too sad. My lurcher made me confident, too, when he was with me. It is good Kai is with you still. Lots of good wishes for the new year

 

Submitted by marandina on

"On crystal pavements

Oak leaves glued in layers"

 

Some beautiful lines in there, Jane. The final stanza sweeps us through the seasons. Very nicely done. Paul

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thank you for reading Paul. I'm feeling quite bored on these 'in between' days, I might go out and unglue those leaves off the pavement.

 

Submitted by celticman on

time is always screwing us over. duvet days indeed. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Time is turning the screws on us celticman. Thanks for reading and happy and successful 2023 to you x