Winter thoughts

I stole this poem from LK Ludwig's blog (she has loads of wonderful journaling, photography, and poetry on her blog, The Poetic Eye- check it out here!), but it completely sums up how I feel about winter... not the cold, damp, sometimes gray and rainy winter that we get here in Arizona, but the crystal-clear, cold-nose and rosy cheeks winter I grew up with in Illinois. (I'm acclimated now- I don't like shoveling snow or driving in a blizzard any more, but I still do miss that magical clarity that a frosty, snowy winter afternoon seems to have.)

Walking Home from Oak-Head (by Mary Oliver)

There is something

about the snow-laden sky

in the winter

in the late afternoon

that brings to the heart elation

and the lovely meaninglessness

of time.

Whenever I get home - whenever

-somebody loves me there.

Meanwhile

I stand in the same dark peace

as any pine tree,

or wander on slowly

like the still unhurried wind,

waiting,

as for a gift,

for the snow to begin

which it does

as first casually,

then, irrepressibly.

Wherever else I live -

in music, in words

in the fires of the heart,

I abide just as deeply

in this nameless, indivisible place, this world,

which is falling apart now,

which is white and wild,

Which is faithful beyond all our expressions of faith,

our deepest prayers.

Don't worry, sooner or later I'll be home.

Red-cheeked from the roused wind,

I'll stand in the doorway

stamping my boots and slapping my hands,

my shoulders

covered with stars.