One More Winter

By John I. Blair

One more winter
And I understand
Why Finns get suicidal.

One more winter
The sun, a hooded visitor,
Prophesies doom.

One more winter
With its weeks of gorging
And New Year’s gut.

One more winter
When April irises
Sound so implausible.

But

A randy band of sparrows
Dazzles my December patio
With lustful life.

Mounds of moonlit snow
Fashion an enchanted land
From ragged privet.

My living room,
All candle glow and laughter,
Fills with happy friends;

And one more winter
Gifts me with release
From my isolated self.

©2004 John I. Blair