Season’s Yin and Yang

Snow-masked country roads convey a down-feather silence,
save for the crunch of boot or rolling tire atop its blanketed cover,

where flakes having landed firm from skyward travel,
wind their way through mountain valley and gorge,

finding purchase on lonely roads of winter,

where a morning's sunrise brings warmth
for a pine bough's surrender,

sending crystalline dust afloat,
refracting time's patience and love.

With spring, sunlight's temperature hastens chilly archiving,
erosion beckons spider-webbed memoirs of the aged,
the infirm and the languid,

reminding humankind of its partnership with nature,

sometimes beneath protected cover,

sometimes rendered naked and alone.

As yesterday’s chilly tempest recedes,

intermission awaits the summer’s imminent thunder,

where to smile and close one’s eyes

is to hear the heart quicken,

beckoning weathered memories to remain alive,
to weigh lightly upon weary shoulders
and continue into fall for completion of seasonal joy.