December 2002 - Nr. 12
Winter Air
I feel it just like then
When I was but a little girl
Climbing up a chair to reach the windowsill.
I would sit and look
Out into the frosty yard
Where leaves were dancing to the howling wind.
A bit of awe would stir in me
About the vehement outside,
While I was feeling warmly, safe at home, inside.
Still, in every autumn
I peek outside in wonder
When madly dancing leaves swirl by my window.
Just now I recollected
The many smells and sounds
I was familiar with those many years ago.
It’s nearly all the same
In every year since then
Looking out into the garden through the windowpane.
The wind still howls
And blows the coloured leaves
Into a ghostly, whirling, whipping dance of frenzy.
All other living things
Are hiding out somewhere
Until the moving madness has left the icy, wintry air.
But then the birds and squirrels,
The skunk and coons and mice as well
Return to search my yard for autumn’s glory-bounty.
Sybille, November 16, 2002
Copyright ©2002 Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
