We know each year it comes to us
Darkness, to bright cold winter days
The greens become a golden yellow
Before bareness reveals ageing old oaks
Yet cousins stay that darker luscious green 
And brave red berries are to be born again
In time for their festive December displays

Birds, squirrels, foxes and rats still search
To find enough to live in our way 
Close enough, but not as our prey
In gardens silent without bees at work
The warmth of staying inside my home
Hiding from what I know is still out there
Sundays were better when I used to Pray

Today I have been working on the future
In my mind and in your dreams to 
To make them true for us to live in winter
And know summer will bless our faces
When we kiss in the early morning together  
Bodies entwined in the sheets that cooled
Instead of blankets to encase our darkness