Winter

By Patrick Best

The long, frigid breath
Of earth's darkest season
Comes and goes
With wicked rhyme and reason.
It howls like a beast
As it stirs up the dead.
It's turned trees into monsters
In scary stories I've read.
Makes chimney smoke dance
To the beat of teeth chatter.
Sings snakes off to sleep
And makes northern birds scatter.
It freezes on frowns
With a skin-tightening sting.
It whispers sweet-nothings
To make ears ache and ring.
It chases home children
To their blankets and fires.
Still burns in their chests
As they thaw and perspire.
Turns tiny still pools
Into mirrors of ice.
The broken bones of the careless
The cold magician's steep price.