Snow has fallen
encapsulating all
in an impenetrable sheet
of frigid inactivity.
Readily enabling those
that prefer to live as though
they were dead already.
It is too cold to leave the house,
to make the effort
to visit Nan
in her time of dying.
She will die a lonely death
because we were frozen,
immune to life outside
our warm abode.
Yet through the wintry frost,
we hear a bird singing.
With purpose,
she dutifully builds her nest
layering sticks and twigs
with snow and ice,
constructing a home for her dependents.
She will not fail them,
as we have failed our own
time and time again.
Selfish endeavors are foreign
to nature's obligation.
But we have convinced ourselves
that we are exempt from
such laws.
So we will shelter ourselves from
ice and elements
protected from the cold,
protected from our lives.
But the bird—
she still sings.
And once we have died,
leaving behind
temporary tracks
on the snowy earth
the bird
will still sing.
encapsulating all
in an impenetrable sheet
of frigid inactivity.
Readily enabling those
that prefer to live as though
they were dead already.
It is too cold to leave the house,
to make the effort
to visit Nan
in her time of dying.
She will die a lonely death
because we were frozen,
immune to life outside
our warm abode.
Yet through the wintry frost,
we hear a bird singing.
With purpose,
she dutifully builds her nest
layering sticks and twigs
with snow and ice,
constructing a home for her dependents.
She will not fail them,
as we have failed our own
time and time again.
Selfish endeavors are foreign
to nature's obligation.
But we have convinced ourselves
that we are exempt from
such laws.
So we will shelter ourselves from
ice and elements
protected from the cold,
protected from our lives.
But the bird—
she still sings.
And once we have died,
leaving behind
temporary tracks
on the snowy earth
the bird
will still sing.