POEM FOR JANUARY

High winds and white skies
rattle bare-bone tree limbs
shaking snow from branches
laid bare to winter ravages.
Cold and sullen wayfarers
move in frozen fluidity,
leaving tracks in their wake
that are soon gone to naught.
Darkness claims the frozen land
and reigns again once more
keeping out the light and warm
from our sanguine visions.
The longest night holds us
in its frosty grip till dawn
and winter never ceases
until it kills our meager hope.