Peaceably Melting

The snow just about melted, and what remains so dirtied by the passing life as to recede peaceably into anonymity. Brightness above, through cloudless skies in swift procession to blinking Winter eyes, and the geese fly through it, plying their ancient melodies as they shift from peak to peak. Make by bed in the melting snow; piles of soggy crunchiness, disappearing in rivulets of shimmering possibility. Now is when we all change, from frozen expectation to trickling mobility which for a while muddies all boots who dare tread forward in hopes of Spring. I release myself, embrace slowly the season of working, learn my eyes not to flood with protective tears at the new brightness of days.

What becomes of my dear Winter? He slips away as a protective father gently releasing his strong grip on the seat of Spring’s first bicycle. We forget his majesty in the moment of first joy at glimpsing her emerging independence; delicate, still under his care, but developing openly away from him, showing her colors like moments of knowing laughter, unassuming, and terribly beautiful in her promise. She’ll one day meet her suitor in Summer, a gallantly robed youth, dashing, imperious, graced with the first wisdom of adulthood, hard work and enjoyment tempered evenly in his steady eyes. Still, now she dances standing on Winter’s hard shoes and we wait for her, wait for her freedom as we wait for ours. Could it be time now? Time to begin the thousand things brewing in the many starry nights we’ve passed. Melt away expectation with the drifting snow, for promises go far beyond the season they are sowed, and stay with us for many turns about our lonely Sun. Forgive me where I have failed to fulfill; I dream of a better tomorrow, holding good thought in the palm of my hand like sprouting seed, and wait for the rushing waters of a thaw to cleanse the dross of seasons past before I give my gift into the Earth.

Oil Painting by myself