Waiting for Winter...to Pass (re-vamped re-post)

Ah, winsome willow of July
Where once we laid upon the grass

To listen to your tendrils sigh

Are naked now with claws of brass
In mellow August breeze you swayed

Your arches warmed with golden glee
And oft you lured us to its shade
To bask within your melody
But now your branches ache and groan
Stripped of the song you once had known

Ah, chit-chatter of winding creek
Where our bare feet browsed and splashed

Is silent; laughter waits beneath

Your sleek and polished marble path

Earth's world is petrified and still

Crystal-coated in stilly shroud

Though each breath argues with its will
Winter replies in frosty cloud
The only marring of its dark
Are footsteps creaking through the park

Where is the kiss of summer’s sun?
Where is the bliss of buoyant breeze?
They wait somewhere with bridled tongue
Biding their time before they tease
This blustered candor from the lips
Stone-cold in winter’s pantomime
And soon they’ll melt those fingertips
Clutching the earth in frozen time
Ah winter too, comes but to pass
Jack Frost embellishes his glass

Janet Martin~