Only a few scattered leaves had survived the harsh onslaught of icy weather

The few reamaining were making their last stand

Fighting a hopeless battle against a most persistent adversary

The landscape desolate and stripped bare

Laid naked

Under the unforgiving gaze of the winter sun

Who, forsaking its duty to give warmth

Appeared only as a white blemish set in

The deep grays of the bruised sky

I walked through the field in a state of uneasy emptiness

The loneliness of the bare trees and the whispering wind

Conspired against me

Moving my thoughts to think upon memories

I thought I had put to rest

The snow, beautiful and concealing

Would not fall and blanket this emptiness

On this day more than any I felt an enduring

Yearning to see beauty, I needed to see beauty

Yet Nature, like a coy maiden, veiled herself from me

And Demeter, having withdrawn her blessing

Left the land to suffer its plight

And here I am

A shallow haunted thing wandering

Through the fields of The Beyond

11-16-00