Until December

Until December

The bitter winter chill has arrived…
A north wind blowing in
From some remote arctic location
That seldom wanders my mind…
………………..Until December

Cold air seeping through the cracks
In the walls of this old house…
Floors resembling the feel of an icy pond
Against my bare feet…
As the snow begins to fall
Atop the branches of the pine
My thoughts of winters past…
Of time before my aging eyes
Had turned from blue to gray…
Where a child could catch a snowflake
In the palm of his tiny hand
Turn his face toward the sky
And smile with innocence…

My bones absorb the cold
Far more than just the year before
Even with extra tallow
Having taken residence beneath my skin…
My feet still cold inside my shoes
No crackling fire to warm them…
Yet I recall the child who sat upon the hearth
Enchanted with the thought of snow
To fall upon the willow
Long before the feet of crows
Had graced my mellowed eyes…

This old kitchen table
Where I often scrawl the thoughts
Of a man more antediluvian
Than that of my own recollection…
Can speak of the laughter…
The sadness…
The tears…
The stories told by those much older…
Much wiser than I…
Molded into the marrow of its soul…
It wears the wine and whiskey spilled
Immersed into its grain
Like purple hearts against the soldiers breast…
It speaks of Christmas dinners past…
Of birthdays come and gone…
Of hands held both above
And neath the wood…
Chairs that creak and speak of those
Who rested in their mold
Yet never speak the secrets told
On snowy winter nights…

The sleet against the window pane
Like the sound of a thousand crows
Pecking at the nuts beneath the pine…
The wind is howling through the cracks
Of the crippled wooden door
Reminding me of those who’ve danced
Upon this icy floor…
The sound of old piano strings
Ringing in the night
The rhymes so often drowned
Within the laughter…
Long painted nails
Tapping time against the keys
With voices blending well
Through breath of beer…
Thoughts that sometime slip my mind
Like quivering neath the sheets…
Forgotten amidst the warmth of dreams…
……………………………Until December

Michael33

Copyright © 2016