Before you returned, the waters were frozen,
the ground deep with snow. No songbirds
fluttered through the stiff, cold branches
of the trees. Everything slept in darkness.
Oh, the world still held its beauty
in a stark and subdued way. But nothing
foretold an awakening; nothing hinted
at renewal. Hope was a forgotten word.
Then, in you came, with your warmth
and your gold,your earth-shaking thunder
and life-giving rain, coaxing everything
to awake, pushing it to rise, luring it
into the light, inviting it to open,
giving it reason to sing, to shiver
with joy, to remember that
love never dies.