We have had a beautiful autumn season here in the Midwest. The trees are so colorful and the weather has been warm and mild. So it was a little jarring when this past weekend the chilly rain started to fall, followed by cold winds and our first dusting of snow overnight. Today I even contemplated lighting a cozy fire to help take away the chill in the air. So even though the official first day of winter is still over a month away, I was reminded of this poem from my second book.
Several years ago, when I was a teenager, I wrote the first of what I now call my Four Seasons series of poems. The first one was called “It’s Springtime Once Again,” and it eventually found its way into my first book, Walk Through a Field of Flowers. This poem introduced the characters of Mother Earth, the babbling brook, chipmunks, the trees, and the children. They were all doing activities related to the season. Following that poem, my second, third, and fourth books carried on with “It’s Winter Once Again”, “It’s Summertime Once Again”, and lastly “It’s Autumn Once Again”, which rounded out the four seasons. Link to those posts, poems, and my books are at the bottom of the post.
As an avid reader, I’ve always loved when I read books from the same author and they bring back a character from a previous book. It is like seeing an old friend and catching up. As I already mentioned, my first book introduced the poem “It’s Springtime Once Again.” In that poem, Mother Earth is just waking up from her winter’s nap and kicking away all the winter dreariness. The babbling brook is talking away to the breeze, the chipmunks are running up and down the trees, and the kids are out flying a kite. They are all out enjoying the rebirth of the spring season.
This next poem is a prequel to that poem. All of those characters are here, except they are all hunkered down for winter. I hope you enjoy visiting with them again here, and also in my third and fourth books.
It’s Winter Once Again
An icicle hangs outside my window,
The world is bathed in white.
The howling wind sings a mournful tune,
No bird would dare take flight.
I feel the chill deep in my bones.
Old Man Winter has arrived.
He’s frigid and he’s angry,
And he leaves me warmth deprived.
I feel it right down to my core
That winter’s in the air.
My breath comes out in blasts of white,
There are snowflakes in my hair.
Mother Earth’s gone back to sleep.
She’s snuggled warm and tight.
Even she can’t bear the chill
on this cold December night.
She pulls the blanket past her eyes
And covers up her head.
She’ll see us in a few long months
When she steps out of her bed.
The chipmunks are all hunkered down
With their precious haul
Of all the nuts and acorns
That they gathered in the fall.
The babbling brook is frozen still.
She has no words to say.
I’m sure she will make up for it
when thawing comes our way.
The trees enjoy the quiet
As they stand so proud and bare.
The silence of the little brook
Is something that’s quite rare.
I see the children bundled up
Sledding down the hill.
Faster, faster, there they go!
Their laughter is so shrill.
It won’t be long ’til they go inside
To warm themselves back up
Where Mama will be waiting
With heated chocolate in a cup.
Despite the frigid cold,
There is magic in the air.
The snowflakes look like crystals,
And there’s beauty everywhere!
Once again it strikes my soul
How much I love this place
As I wrap my arms around the world
Into a warm embrace.
I know that I’ll be warm again
But I can’t imagine when.
So I’ll just count the days
Until it’s springtime once again!
-K.A. Bloch-
