2023 Late January…
It’s nearly halfway through winter. My O my, it’s been a mild winter so far. In fact, I’ve heard more than one person suggest that it will be an early spring, and that we’ve already felt the brunt of the cold season. Tsk! Tsk! I haven’t noticed whether those same people have knocked on wood or managed another sort of way to acknowledge that simply suggesting such a thing opens us up to the season’s revenge.
February is coming. Ground Hog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, Ash Wednesday, and then Lent begins. Rest assured that whatever the upcoming weeks have in store for us, we will have one another supporting us and seeing us through until spring comes. And come it will. But until then…
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering earth in forgetful snow, feeding a little life with dried tubers.” (The Wasteland)
Ah February, T.S. Eliot was Wrong
T.S. Eliot was wrong, I must make it clear
Considering the cruelest time of year
April’s awash with color, scent, and light
Rebirth, renewal, dawn’s end to night
There is nothing light and airy
About the month of February
Ice hard world, snowy storms full wrath
Slate gray skies, winter’s epitaph
Knowing well that life’s best spent
Sidestepping one’s winter discontent
Hunkered down neath frozen crystalized rime
Till spring returns, we bide our time
T.S. was wrong, April’s not the one
February is, and it’s just begun
Peace, Mark