April 26th - Welcoming Spring

I used to know the way to walk
down these long forgotten roads:
I knew the ways back home, but then
the snow consumed them all,
made the world white and cold
one long, lifeless, blindingly bright blanket
where no shadows survive -
not even those I held inside.
the memory bled from my mind
like a waterfall of crimson silk
sluicing decisively along virginal backs
left in ribbons from the willow switch.
now, standing tall, craning to view
over a particularly rolling hill
the serpentine thoroughfare I thought I knew
when I was young and brave.
I'll pry the boards away from that
dilapidated, crumbling house
that held all my follies, secure for ages,
covered in the snow;
the memories tumble forth
and collapse at my feet;
the snows, retreating, slink away.
the shadows crawl back in,
stretching their shoulders, cracking joints,
reminding me the season only
covers, never kills.