December

12/02/24

Tonight, December second, comes enshrouded

            In impenetrable mist borne on

A cold wind from the coast. The valley quiet,

            The usual roar of engines

Diminished this, after all, a Monday night,

A reprieve, I think, for the coming holiday,

            A lull, numb from the bitterness

                        Of our election process, a moment

            Of calm, at the beginning of winter,

At the beginning of December.

I go out to the porch just to feel the air,

            Valley entombed in fog,

Hard to see even the neighbor’s dim lights,

            The world dissolved to brooding silence, bleak indifference.

But a pause, a time to breathe deep

            Sharp Pacific night air, to

Face the chill slap of nightwind

            Blowing down from the Coast Range,

Pushing frigid Pacific mist across the valley,

            Hiding the world, for a moment,

Before the winter, before the holiday,

Before the storm.