Winter's Hope

Winter's Hope

Looking out across winter fields

I stand in their soft holdings of water

Ivy no longer wanders over the river wall

A quiver overtakes the landscape

Strangely tender in this cold hard plenitude

White petals fall awhile — an elaborate coverlet

Sunlight gleams from its glassless frame

An eagle flings its shadow across the sky

Gathering height where the beat widens

You took it all, even the empty dream

I sought comfort in the graves we made

And just when I thought I’d given you up

Hope’s sweet oil seeps into my flesh

A few drops on my brow, my wrist

I cup them like a warm breath; for days —

Acceptance as something chosen

Mother and daughter become one

White candle burning next to white candle

Your mind and mine go back through the years

Searching that lost child, and finding her here

The circle opens — closing where our joined hands meet

© Selena Howard December3,2011