Whether lying in the dark trying to find sleep, or driving alone in my car in winter's black predawn, my mind tends to wander to poetic places I'd rather not visit. I listen to the wind whining in the night and I am a bear looking to hibernate who cannot find its cave. I am cold, so cold, and yet my veins have not frozen and blood still flows from head to toes. The new year should bring hope but January is bleak. I am surrounded by death that they tell me comes in threes, but just when I think it's safe there comes a fourth and fifth. If not running from death, I'm chased by his cousin, disease, who casts a wide net to ensnare us all. There seems no escape. I long for spring, for sunshine, green grass, and flowers in bloom, but they are far away on a distant horizon, I cannot see. January is bleak and I am so cold.
~Elise Skidmore ©2022
I hear you my friend. We’re in the endless fog season here, and it just gets to me. I told my husband today that Hawaii is needed… but even with unlimited money, that wouldn’t be wise right now. So I sit at my desk and work… and feed the birds… and leave up the Christmas lights.
I hear you on Hawaii–and have the same reservations. I keep hoping things will get back to normal with travel, but it’s not looking good at the moment. Thanks for letting me know you read this one and could relate. I hesitated to post it as the first post for the new year as I hate being a downer, but that seems to be what’s coming out lately.
Sad, and true. There’s a lot of dreary and cold and depressing out there. Hang on. Spring is coming.
YES to leaving up the Christmas lights! It’s one of the things that gets me through winter every year.
Thanks for reading and for your comments. It’s the cycle of life, I guess. Even with the ton of birthdays we’ve got here in January/early February, the winter months are dreary to me. Our Christmas was put away last weekend with the exception of a couple of strings of lights outside–which have been turned off, and the still fresh wreath on the door. Truth is, as much as I love Christmas from Thanksgiving through Epiphany, I’m glad when it’s finally put away till next time.
January is bleak and that’s why you have to get together with your friends for Margaritas!!! Good poem. See you later for Margaritas my friend. 😁
Thanks, Rosemary. Seeing a good friend for the afternoon definitely brightens a bleak day.
It seems especially bleak this year. But who knows? Maybe that will make spring especially sweet by comparison later. We can hope.
Thank you, Linda. Hope is good. We need more of that.