We are banished
Kings and Queens
This season,
Shut out and huddled
Far from the court of life.
Marking one gray day
After the next,
Stones to hang
Around our drooping necks.
A time of great shedding,
Of unwinding…
If we find what’s new
And beautiful in spring,
Love it fully in summer,
Lose it unwittingly in fall—
We then mourn it bitterly
In winter.
Outside our back window:
Tree of leaves sucked dry
By sun and season,
Turned so quickly from
Supple lithe green
To brittle tan,
now denuded.
Sign of the times.
Build a fire.
Warm your hands.
Keep your blood pumping
And your limbs intact
To wait it out—
Teeth clenched
Knuckles white
Lungs burning—
For another
Spring.
- Meredith Alexander Kunz, © 2019
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