Howdy winter
Why do you hide the sun
You rush her out with a frown and darkness you beckon with open arms
Eleven in the morn resembles three on the leeward side of noon
You transform 17:00 into the witching hour
Over the Michigan, down you pull the dark nimbers 
The lake touches the sky a stone’s throw away
Of their green and yellow and red and purple and orange, the trees you rob 
Naked to the bone they stand 
Their barrenness proclaiming defenselessness and desperation


On your slanted back, a bagful of doom menacingly rests
You clothe mother nature with a biting cold
And blanket the atmosphere with a chill that makes men’s breathes visible

 
Devoid of hope flickers you aren’t natheless
Mother earth you pelt with whiteness
A purity-evoking oneness delighting the eye
A squishy skiddy mush inviting the thrill of a downhill slide
Though with your frigid breathe, you rob life of its flame
In the same breathe, you replenish wax on the candle of life 
The hope of a future rekindling of the flame


An inconvenient convenience you are
An ending and a killing bringing forth a beginning and a birthing 


So then come
The end to signal, come
To fertilize mother earth for newness, come
With your furrowed brow and dark frown, come 
Oh you furious ice-spitting tail-wagging tenebrosity, come 


For with the ending you embody 
Reluctant though you be
Throw open the gates you inevitably will 
A fresh smiling aromatic beginning to usher