Winter (poem and pictures)

Okay, so I started writing a poem about winter a while ago and only just finished it this evening. Here it is with some wintry photos from earlier this year. Sorry it's so unseasonal now.

Winter

I.

Why should I not welcome
the bitterness that bites
all that was lazily flowing
pinched and dry?
My heart has learned to wait
on flames that rise from cinders;
to pulse with, sense the latent sap.
I have seen many winters.


II.

Falling mercury understates the slowing down of
—molecules in stately waltz—
the things of earth, reduced, distilled:
the undisturbed reflection
 of their former selves yet more:
the thing of which the self is a reflection.
Be still and know.


III.

Imperious ice demands its due,
wind whipping subjects to submission.
No hint of summer’s warm inviting
stirs the hardened air itself.
Yet flame and frost as any pair
of lovers at their heart are one:
at winter’s core, a blaze must roar.

Lake Lanier, Georgia

Minneapolis

Near Duvall, WA

Near Duvall, WA

Lake Lanier, Georgia

Elementary school garden, Duvall, WA