winter wish

i wish you love for winter's warmth, love of
beauty in all its forms and the eyes
to see it when you stumble upon it:

ferns still green against
whiter, clear ice; frozen droplets
of waterfall spilling onto gray rocks
and birches glowing incandescent
against the leaded sky.

look up to see the
three-quarters moon
like a fat seal floating beneath a
cloud of frozen slush on ocean surface,
diving beneath it to surface into
clear, open skies again with her honest
inquisitive face turning towards open seas.

see three stars
fly with apparent motion above
the still, unmoving clouds like
three geese in pointed formation, flying
north with silent, white wings.

see oak branches reach with
tangled hands towards the one
remaining rattling leaf on the
outermost branch, hands stretched
in longing, and remember

what you yourself most long for
in your heart--what beauty most
touches you. whether ocean
with its white-sailed sheets of foam,
sand beaches wet with gull track,
ragged clouds and stars, a bird
feeder full of chickadees or
tree moss and bare twig,

may you find in our heart
and your world whatever beauty
your soul most loves
to light your way to spring's doorstep.