Wild Before Winter

Wild Before Winter

by Romulus Linney

In my meadow luxuriates the green world

Preening itself before the yearly catastrophe of frost

              and freezing

One green burst of curls flung forward like a boy's

              head of hair brushed over his face in football.

Now I, in my eightieth year, stripped of my defenses

Flying, drunken winds blow at my back, crashing

              gleefully, turn the green world dark too soon.

Now wild before winter, in my age, deserted by my sins

Cold words spoken to my children returning hot now

              to blister my heart

No more the nights with love, betrayal, obsession,

              devastation, abandonment.

Old man, wild before winter, still childish

My little river running past as if nothing will happen

As if ice will not encase it