POEM STARTER
Submitted by Robin Marlowe
Write a poem about unseasonable weather. e.g. A warm day in the winter, or snow in the summer.
Seasons of Us
Ankle deep in snow
Under a star-dotted sky,
On a whispered winter breath
That spilled across my ear
And wrapped down around my neck,
You said,
“I love you.”
You said,
“Forever”
So casually
That it impressed me.
I admired the way you thought of
Eternity
As tangible,
As something attainable.
I reciprocated your pseudo-promises,
And I held your hands close
In a poor attempt to warm them.
I said,
“We complain of the cold now,
But when summer comes,
We’ll complain of the warm,”
And you laughed along.
You said,
“What about spring?”
And I said,
“We’ll go see the flowers.”
Spring came with
A rainbow of bright blossoms
Blooming under a moderate sky.
I said,
“The flowers are beautiful,”
And you were indifferent.
You said,
“The pollen bothers my allergies,”
And I commiserated,
Silently holding within
My admiration of the colorful petals.
With a heavy heart,
I said,
“They will be gone by summer,”
And you said,
“I don’t mind.
All things live and die,
That’s just the cycle of life.”
We still held close
The words we hastily hushed
On a cold, snowy night,
Though now we repeated them
Not because we believed them,
But because we believed
If we spoke them over and over
Truth would manifest inside them
And keep them alive.
Summer arrived
Carrying a heatwave so intense
The air became thick
And walking through it
Became a chore.
The flowers
Withered and died,
But I insisted we water them,
Thinking their beauty could last
As long as we nurtured,
Believing forever
Was just beyond my fingertips.
We looked at
The dead flowerbed,
And subtle waves of anguish
Rippled through my heart.
You said,
“Nothing lasts forever,”
And I felt the salty taste
Of a tear slip through
The corner of my mouth.
I said,
“It’s too warm now,
But they will bloom again.”
You said,
“They won’t be
The same,
New flowers will
Replace them,”
And you walked away.
I looked down at my hands,
Covered in soil and guilt.
In the hellish heat,
I was ice cold,
And all I could imagine
Was how warm I felt
Wrapped in your arms
On a snowy winter day.