Wintergreening
Leaves still breathe the summer
warm as what you gave
before you left,
but days are folding
smaller, thinner
darker
darker
and the freeze
is skin close.
I'm not a good forgiver;
forgiving
seems to throw away
the thing that really mattered,
yet summer
forgives winter
greening herself back
and back each time she's
frozen out.
~November 2012
55
falling leaves for the g-man
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Image: Greenorange light, © joyannjones 2012
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Image: Frosty Morning, by Sam Foles, on flick'r
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under a creative commons license
Well put. Someday I will learn the secret of renewal for which summer thanks winter. Right now I am still human.
ReplyDelete"I'm not a good forgiver;
ReplyDeleteforgiving
seems to throw away
the thing that really mattered"
!!!
That's so true, and yet I have never heard/read it put exactly that way before.
Lovely. And your photo is so beautiful. This has a wonderful cadence with the repetitions and assonance and homonyms that are not quite spoken--leaves and left, greening which has all that renewal but somewhere echo of grieve and keen too. Am on train and phone so can't really be coherent. K.
ReplyDeleteYou're quite coherent (enough for me, anyway)Thanks, k. I'm not much of a photographer, but my camera fortunately is reasonably competent.
DeletePs love the freeze skin deep
ReplyDeleteyet summer
ReplyDeleteforgives winter
greening herself back
The whole poem is gorgeous. The power to find strength to heal, to move forward is something we all have. But some do it much better than others. Of course, Mother Nature does it quite well.
She has lots of practice. Thanks Margaret.
Deletesmiles...love the bit on forgiveness and how summer forgives winter and in that finds life....really lovely piece hedge....def a very nice rhythm to this piece as well...
ReplyDeleteand loved g-mans tribute to you as well...smiles.
yeah, that was really spiffy, and I enjoyed it much. Thanks for reading, bri.
DeleteAll kidding aside, I consider myself exceedingly lucky whenever you contribute your Marvelous Musings to the Friday Funfest.
ReplyDeleteI just sit on my half ass and get Top Shelf literature sent my way for FREE!!! Such A Deal!!
Loved your forgiving 55
Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Week-End
Thanks for the really neat ode to the fine lost art of hedgewitchery you served up for me--I really liked it, Galen--who could not have a kick-half-an-ass weekend after that? ;-)
DeleteVery thought provoking! I once was not much of a forgiver but I have learned...lovely.
ReplyDeleteJoy- We can't start the fire , because it's always been burning since the worlds been turning.... Believe me, I understand,...sweet forgiveness...Love the mulch on the pansies..protection.
ReplyDeleteno, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it. The pansies look so delicate--I'm always amazed after they are frost burned all through January and every flower's long gone how one warm day in March they suddenly come back and bloom like little suns.
DeleteThis is incredibly beautiful, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteHedge, the forgiveness section is brutally honest. I appreciated your candor. The whole winter/summer cycle is one of mutual admiration, I think. Winter lets everything rest; spring is the alarm clock; summer, the time the earth gets a workout; and autumn is the gentle laying on of a covering of leaves, putting the earth to bed for the winter. I simply loved this, Witchy Woman! Amy
ReplyDeletecertainly wish it was summers time to forgive! Bah! to the cold on my skin. Good piece though HW!
ReplyDeleteI'm wintergreen with envy each time you write like this about the things that really matter. Nice, nice, nice Hedge.
ReplyDeletei have a hard time with forgiveness... too often, like winter, the need for forgiveness keeps happening over and over again.
ReplyDeletefabulous 55, Joy!
♥
I'm not a good forgiver;
ReplyDeleteforgiving
seems to throw away
the thing that really mattered...
I can relate to these words rather too well, I'm afraid, but I love the way you led us through the metaphor to the image of summer forgiving winter for happening, and greening up everything again.
Lovely words.
Haunting and beautiful words! thanks
ReplyDelete"Summer forgives winter" love that. I need to work on my forgiving skills too. What a great write. And I really think it's great G-man made his 55 an "ode to Joy" ...well, not really an ode, but I can't resist a pun. :o) Enjoy your weekend (no pun intended that time)
ReplyDeleteI am not a good forgiver either- Winter is very hard slivers of hope
ReplyDeletehere and there! Thanks.
What a beautiful poem for the season! Since you're the muse for G-Man this week, I thought I'd visit you first. I love the thought of summer forgiving winter, and so she does year in, year out. Thanks for a great kick-off!
ReplyDeleteI like the photos mirroring the transition of your piece, very nice!
ReplyDeleteLove the take on summer and forgiveness ~
ReplyDeleteThis is a great share Hedge ~
Forgiveness is so complicated, you described it beautifully.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading G-Man's 'Ode to Joy.'
This rocked my soul and made me actually cry. I felt your words as a complete sensation, especially these:
ReplyDeleteforgiving
seems to throw away
the thing that really mattered,
this is stunning, from the first line to the last. you describe the relationship so beautifully. and I agree, forgiveness is not easy, but I'm glad summer finds it in her heart to forgive winter for the alternatives seems that she might never return.
ReplyDeleteEffective and thought provoking way of describing the seasons
ReplyDelete