Ode to December

The grapevine o’er the lintel
Has lost its musky fare
The plot that is my garden
Returns an icy stare
The barefoot boy of summer
Sleeps soundly in his bed
Lulled by a song of winter
Through stark trees overhead

The ship waits in the mooring
For screaming gales to pass
No breeze or warm tide luring
From shores of wind-swept grass
On furrowed field of daisy
December woos her mate
Where once the breeze was lazy
And blooms declared love’s fate

No tiny bud or blossom
To clothe the barren limb
Upon earth’s frigid bosom
The little day grows dim
Night draws its cobalt awning
Before daydreams are through
As deeper shades of evening
Transform white plains to blue

The dusty lanes of summer
The long, slow afternoon
Have fled to kinder pastures
Beneath a warmer moon
The sun-drenched haunts of August
Don winter's testing shawl
While on its gleaming canvas
A thousand memories fall

Dance to the song of snow-flakes
And hold your loved ones near
Three seasons worth of toiling
Have traced another year
Dance to the tune of memories
In winter's frigid bliss
For soon her frosty candor
Will melt in Spring's soft kiss


Janet~