An Awkward Absence

So, the love letter is finished.

And that is that.

What comes next takes grit.

Entering the unlit passage

where we wait

as the old year passes away
and the new year yearns to be born.

Some of us wait more comfortably than others.

But, we're all suspended here

dangling in the dim in-between.

Prepared?

Probably not.

But, we'll manage.

Put out birdseed.

Launder blankets.

Recruit the battered snow shovel.

Gather.

Pull our families in around us like knitted shawls.

Crave what warms and cheers.

Relish what nourishes body and soul.

Insisting in our wise and stubborn hearts 
 it will be worth it.

Because it will.  By God, it will.