Ice forms at night and the old fear rises,

memory of dark and bitter cold,

feeling not death but survival

and all we did to stay alive

when life was only suffering;

men and women like iron,

the only sound wind and bitter voices;

dawn spreads now from the east,

morning come to replace the shadows,

thawing with a breath of new light

and the kindness fear obscures,

the gift that really saw us through.

To learn of the Earth takes

a slow steady ponder, listening

to the sounds and silences,

especially the silences,

paying homage with attention

until something dark and unseen

breaks into awareness,

bursting like a mushroom

with the fullness of Her desire.

With sky clear and cold

the park populates again –

lovers side by side,

infants in their strollers,

the face of an elderly man

alight with recognition;

rain kept them away,

soaking the fallen leaves

and thankful soil,

dropping us into origin,

the mystery within the earth

our fingers will not grasp;

dark along the root,

her ancient song yet singing.

This day of January sun,

light, cloud and wind

tugging at the last oak leaves,

stubborn like my soul

with gathered treasure,

afraid to let go to the horizon

changing with the rhythm unseen

as it moves through the tall trees,

calling me into tomorrow.