With Winter Solstice looming near
And summer a long gone mariner
He finds power in the darkening malcontent
That traps a gaze this autumn
Above an umbrage of blazing ice clouds
Lucifer burns in the frozen star
Grinning as he weaves the death shrouds
For men’s hibernal coffins
Oh for a voyage ever southward
To a kindred hemisphere
Where azurean waves
Reflect the waxing moon
And ice surrounds no heart.
But setting sail is no easy task
In hoary waters
And dimmer skies
Where even the breath
Of mermaids’song
Hangs suspended
Like frozen desires.
For smoldering long
In the soul of man
Lingers the cryogenic star
Waiting for a time
When glaciation reigns
And the Arctic Age returns.
These celestial collisions
Bear fireballs
To illuminate and warm
A mortal sea
Eroding ice floes
That bar the way
For the long journey
Homeward.
(Photo by David Stroup)
The author of The Pharaoh’s Cry, Portal Shift, Kidnapped Smile, and Dragon Sky from the fantasy series The Artania Chronicles, as well as the middle-grade Forest Secrets. Laurie Woodward co-wrote Dean and JoJo: The Dolphin Legacy. Her poetry has been published in multiple journals and anthologies and she was a collaborator on the popular anti-bullying DVD Resolutions. Bullied as a child, Laurie is now an award-winning peace consultant, poet, and blogger who helps teach children how to avoid arguments, stop bullying, and maintain healthy friendships. She writes on the Central Coast of California. More about her work can be found at artania.net
Laurie Woodward 