Curtis Harrell

The Fifth Season

 

Time has taught me

To count more

Than just four seasons.

Besides summer’s heat

And winter’s chill

And the fickle colors

Of spring and fall,

I have seen

Butterflies drift like embers

Through the warm framework

Of December forests;

I have seen

Daffodils’ resilient yellow

Crest Easter snow.

 

Time’s apprentice,

Love, has taught me

It too has many seasons.

Beyond our wedding day,

The anniversaries, the times

I write I love you

In a card, on your birthday

Or St. Valentine’s,

Love has taken shape

As flickering light

On your profile

At the moviehouse,

Or when you turned your tired face away

As I cradled our stillborn son,

 

Or as your face now turns

To me after you read these words.