The Longest Winter

The longest Winter fractured the fragility of silence
Cradling the already-broken darkness in its dainty fingers
And fingering the frost, wetting its gloved hand
The longest Winter squinted at the people from afar

Woven through the ivy-capped treetops were shadows
Shadows of the times children played in the emerald bushlands
Dancing and singing as the rhythm thrummed on their parents' shields
Meanwhile trees shook hands, exchanging several hasty words

And the people prepared for winter’s rise
For the mid-year was lurking around the corner
Seething, spitting icy flakes into the cold of the night
Bitter was the freeze that loomed like a thorn

The freeze of Winter was its decoy and its lure
For at the core of it all was a kindling fire of warmth
The longest Winter fractured the fragility of silence
And its warmth pulsed like a beating heart.