Seasoned.

Spring blossoms paint a thousand colours in vain;

Threads of emotion entwine aimlessly, reaching far and wide;

Past events bind and entangle my soul ever deeper.

Summer moon cannot soothe even a sliver of my heart;

Impartial Heaven and Earth are are not my obstacle;

To know and act in harmony is enlightenment.

Autumn waves drift across a thousand mountains of lost leaves;

Antlers lay fractured on soil ripening with fungal growth;

Colours shine yellows, reds, and browns signalling life in a new light.

Winter snow builds to gently bend a single blade of stubborn grass;

Life on hold as survival becomes a testing testimony;

Throughout this long year, I have stood strong: I go on.

Cold moon.

Bells clank and clatter
        far off on the hills up high.
Above the wild white wonder
        as large as the sky.

I departed for a walk
        on a winter’s day;
Scattered tufts of frozen blades
        guided the way.

I tasted the excitement
        on the wind’s frozen air.
No animal moved freely
        under my glare.

Children slid, jumped, and threw
        their newfound toy.
Ran my hands through the powder
        embracing each flake of joy.

The trees groaned under
        weights as heavy as a house.
Soon the sun would say goodbye
        like dying flames shining on a winter’s grouse.

Their arms wrapped up
        against nature’s blanket of chalky dry milk.
Glistening fields of brightness
        reflecting the overwhelming beamed sun on silk.

Keeping gifts in mind beyond
        the long-passed autumn nights.
The excitement of finite December
        filled with hope and delights.