EBONY CHILL.
Tonight the air feels bitter with cold.
Hunger bites badger and vole as wind's
teeth of glass gnaw at their bones for
grasses now own savage-stiff talons.
Tonight seed and root hug hidden growth.
Thick snow keeps mole and mouse holed
and while shudder grips earth blackbird's
thin shiver shakes snow from branches.
Tonight no stars peep from domed sky.
Creatures cower in agonized wait while
ebony chill clasps young feather and fur
in cold's freezing ache of staying unfed.
Tonight the ground cracks in frosty clasp.
Fox-hunt fails in flattened stumble after
live cub-food while hedgehog shambles
famished and dazed from starvation-cell.
Tonight the ether glitters with danger.
Autumn-leaf litter has warm salvation
to beings who face sore trials of winter
for in heaping dried piles we offer help.
.
-
Author:
Fay Slimm. (
Offline) - Published: February 7th, 2018 08:54
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 88
- Users favorite of this poem: Lorna, Laura🌻, TrystanBehm, BRIAN & ANGELA, dusk arising, Accidental Poet.
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Comments10
Wonderful write Fay with great imagery.
Glad you found the imagery t enjoyable Goldi.
Wonderful Fay........ I so wish we had badgers here........
Ah - badgers are an asset to countryside living here Lorna - glad you found their inclusion here as they too fight the winter with measures that only they know. Thank you dear for your comment.
We too this morning woke up to snow and soon it’ll be freezing rain! Snow I like! Freezing rain...not so much!
I do feel for those innocent little creatures out there in the freezing cold!
A beautiful and engaging write my dear Fay! Love the visual! I hope those two little badgers have a warm and cozy burrow to go back to!
~Laura~
Yes dear Laura -- feeling for creatures as they try to keep life and limb together in winter is wise - - they deserve our attention in all ways that we can. Thank you so much for this encouraging comment.
Awesome write
Ah - your comments are always so welcome dear Tony and thanks for the visit.
Welcome
A fine write Fay.
They of the wild populace have so much challenge in cold like this -- and need our help when we can -- glad for your comment dear Orchi.
This poem transcended me into a place where I could feel the cold, see the sky, hear the sounds - with such clarity. This is wonderful Fay. Into my favorites it goes!
Thanks a load Trystan for your supportive comment and for putting this small tribute into your favourites.
Thanks FAY for another seamless fusion of Poem 'n Pic ! Your choice of WORDS ~ SIMILE & METAPHOR is so so perfect ~ further comment would be superfluous ! The high standard of each of your poems ~ in content ~ rhythm and ofttimes rhyme is both a challenge and a benchmarh to us lesser poets ~ you are a GEM ~ Thanks for sharing ~ Yours as always BRIAN
Your encouragement for my humble writing always gives my mind an uplift dear Brian and with this needed tribute to our wild woodland friends I want to say an especial thank you both for your visit and for the warm support. So pleased you say something of how caring folk feel about the challenge faced by fur and feather as cold becomes freeze.
Huddling, snuggling to keep warm these winter nights its quite easy to selfishly forget those wonderful creatures we like to think we adore with our mental picture of their appearance in warmer times. How clever they are to survive these chill to the bone frozen solid times to thrll us tomorrow.
I read you as reminding us to do a few helpful things without intruding. Wonderfully written piece quite deserving of being a favourite all round.
Ah my sincere thanks for including this piece in your faves dear friend - - as you state above they are wonderful creatures who live out their short lives in search of safe dens and holes and of course finding sustenance when it gets so cold. We owe so much to their fine example of sheer tenacity and if we as carers can help them feel warmer well all the better. Thank you again.
Fay,
A lovely seasonal piece, with so much imagery throughout.
Makes me look forward to summer days.
Michael 🙂
Ah - thank you Michael for both the visit and comment - - so pleased you enjoyed the imagery used in this tribute to all our wild-woodland neighbours. - And yes like them we too look forward to summer. Thanks again.
This reminds me of the few rabbits that scurry around where I work. I try to leave baby carrots sprinkled around on the ground for them a few times a week. Great write Fay.
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