Thursday, December 14, 2023

Advent 2023: Day 12

 


Image: a railway platform with the words MIND THE GAP painted for the benefit of those alighting from the train, so that the letters are upside-down from the perspective of those waiting to board the train.

 

Now is the season for journeys home by train
(it has been too long)
Through the window, icy
rain has turned the world to monochrome;
sky the colour of milk, spilt
on furrowed fields, broke-open, black as coal.
Life knows it seasons: spring times of new
beginnings, some unwelcome as cold showers;
summertime of ease; autumns of fruitful
gain for labours given; winters,
when days are short and nights are long,
some mild, some bitter—
and in our time, all running out of order,
unpredictable as weather.
How many seasons does this carriage carry,
in limbs, and wombs, and
sun-kissed, rain-kissed, faces?

 

Passengers a-lighting,
please mind the gap
between the seasons and the shelter.

 

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