Winter is not welcome

We chose the house simply,
On a slight rise surrounded by nature,
Tight against winter chill.
Inside Chopin, good wine, warmth,
The voice of the fireplace a whisper,
Its heart beat, a pulsating heat.
We have climbed life’s mountain, together,
Hand-in-hand, helping, sometimes waiting.
The scent of us is mingled in the night,
A winter storm beats on the door,
We will not let it in, it is not welcome.
Winter is the change, the long sleep,
The blanket of snow preserving the spring.
We will look out our windows in May,
There will be flowers dancing with color,
Like memories stored, they live in belief.
We have always believed in another spring,
Nature’s reward for surviving winter.
Beside me on the couch I see you,
Your smile sweeps the cob webbed years away,
My wine glass empty, yours left untouched.
Though the hours only receive my breath,
I know you are there, patient as always.
These memories of you, small fragments of life,
But they are all I have and that is enough,
Their inner light pushing darkness away.
When sleep finds me, I will dream of you,
Holding you through the winter night once again.

Copyright: 2009, Donald Harbour

I can not see me

I looked in the mirror this morning,
I did not recognize the face reflected.
During a dream, or was it reality,
The layers of my life began to shed.
Bit by bit, skin by skin, memory by memory,
They all fell away as petals leave a flower.
Scattered and crushed on the soul’s floor,
Trod over into pulp, into shriveled pieces.
The mirrored person is staring sardonically at me,
A look of wonderment, amusement, or anguish.
I cannot tell, I cannot say, I cannot think,
Stunned by the stubble revealed, stalks of life.
There is a morphing in that callow face,
A presence that moves shadowed so slightly.
It is the bared essence of what I was,
Molded into what I’ve become, what I am.
All the years have chiseled at my stone,
Cover upon cover of fine particles, dust.
It is just a reflection in a mirror, but,
This reflection questions: “Is it you or me?”

Copyright: 2008, Donald Harbour