The time it takes
For one simple flake
To make its way
Down the streets of New York
Falling carelessly to the ground
Over the Empire State
Shoveling below
Cracking sound
Filling the streets with heavy
Steady and steady
Falling so hard
I can barely make out
One World Trade
In a storm for the ages
Barren isles of food in the store
We bear down the hatches
And get ready
For just a little more
Summer wanes
Like an early bird song in the morning
Warming and warning
We heed like leaves awaiting the fall
For changes that will come
Our lives will adjust with seasons
Waxing and waning
All the time anticipating the future
Holding dear to the past and present
We are old enough now
To realize if you look too much ahead
You will be left with future regret
Holding hands
Kissing lips
We await this changes with fires now dim lit
Summers waning pace has tapered off with the months
Cooling heads and sending us off
How I hold the present tight
But know that just letting go
Will be alright
The world will not wait
No delay
No reason to hesitate
I move
I question
I try
In the evening
Under the crisp
Morning sky
Our destiny
Uncertain
Questions blooming
Into discussions
Full answers restricted
Unknown
Somedays feel
As if we go
Where the wind will blow
Us
But today
Reasons develop reasonably
In this season of cold
We set out on a journey
Forward march
Is where we will go
–
Liquid Lights
–
The polar vortex winter
What the heck is that
Where hot and cold intersect
Casting a spinner on the midwest
Over Chicago, Gary, and South Bend
The rust belt on lake Michigan’s end
A vortex
Sets 4 feet of snow on the deck
I am amazed at the violence this
Storm creates
Thrashing cars on highways
Like liquid lights on the road
It is unlike any winter I have known
Where the volatile winds blow
The crushing cold
Oh the cold
It seems unbearable
Stopping pumping engines in its tracks
Planes left running
On snow filled tarmacs
A smack
Of this winter vortex
Sets us spinning
Holding on to wheels
Less like driving
More like swimming
I hope to see the end
We just pull up a chair and watch
The true entertainer
The dropping thermometer
Watching it fall
Way below what I have ever known
Freezing finger tips instantly
With a frigid blast
I can only hope
This vortex
Is my first and my last
A Cup of Songwriting 