The muted sounds of winter fill my ears
With sadness spilling over from the cold,
And suddenly my eyes are brimmed with tears
As I recall the happy days of old.

For in the spring when love was in full bloom
And peals of joy rang in the atmosphere,
I didn't dream that you would leave so soon;
So young a heart knew not the way to fear.

But now as frigid snow falls on your mound
My heart has aged a hundred years or more;
No longer do I hear those springtime sounds,
But winter's silence echoes with a roar.

No, springtime love which whispers in the light
Cannot compare with winter's thundering night.

Copyright © 1995 Ruth Gillis

First published in the Winter 1995 issue of
Poetic Eloquence.