Before the colors are swallowed up
by winter’s quiet dreams, let us
give you one more sweep of hues
to carry you through the colorless cold.
Tuck these bold flags into the corners
of your mind. Wave them on nights
when the wind howls, when snow
pulls its white blankets over your fields.
Let them warm you with their bright songs
and encourage you when the days
seem bleak and endless. Let them whisper
to you that winter is but a pulling back
of the Archer’s bow so that, come spring,
new songs may rise, and joy, renewed,
may fill your soul.