Mid-winter Blues

A sharp fall in temperature
             and for once a winter’s day
that feels like winter
             Frost on the parked cars
at first light
             a crispness in the air
and the breath I exhale
             clouding before my eyes

We are into the New Year
             and a new dispensation
hopes and dreams
             are all up for grabs
along with bold resolutions
             and the temporary ditching
of excuses as to why
             I am ever so slightly
overweight and thus
             a little less fit for purpose

Time to face the mirror
             and the bathroom scales
to have my prospects weighed
             and – no doubt – be found wanting
A scarf and a long cashmere coat
             can hide a multitude of sins
which is why I warm so much
             to the cold winter months

The majesty of meditation
             will carry me through
these hard loveless times
             I will look for the sparrow
for the robin beneath the hedge
             for spring’s first flowering
for the lambs born
             under the Morning Star
for the roses of mid-May
             amid the cityscapes mollified
by nature’s green mantle

John Lyons