Today that old song,

” When will they ever learn?”, keeps

playing in my mind.

~

Some will never ask

“Where have all the flowers gone.”,

deeming them unimportant.

Ice floes on the James

mirror upstate Christmas scenes

ala Currier and Ives.

~

They may make lovely

images, but it is best

to avoid them at all cost.

The slow and steady

drip of truth may finally

release the cold grip of ICE.

~

Antiseptic truth

is just what cold people need

to cure freezing fascist frost.

Like the roulette wheel,

given time, all players lose-

shooting craps with climate change.

~

The stakes are high, but

some insist on gambling by

leaving things just as they are.

A bunch of hot heads

and cold hearts which disturb peace

and unleash terror? That’s ICE.

~

ICE will lose its grip

when the thaw of compassion

permeates our Nation’s soul.

The glittering crust

of sunlit scintillations

fade to gray as clouds increase.

~

Before you know it

even the graying crust will

be dancing in the moon light.

Yet another chance

to practice patience as we

await rising temperatures.

~

Impatience infects

the affect of the masses

as this deep freeze continues.

My life still remains

shrink-wrapped in the sheets of sleet

un-eroded by the sun.

~

Just hoping it’s not

a long lasting condition

and will quickly come unwrapped.

Each day that passes

without melted ice and snow

leaves us in the cold.

~

There will be no thaw

‘til nature adds one more dose

of winter’s strong medicine.

Blazing frozen trails

through the sunny blinding woods

from the comfort of my home.

~

Virtual travel

comes in real handy when snow

and ice block our paths.

Once upon a time

snow days gave us a break. Now

they are just some fairy tale.

~

Like the Brother’s Grimm,

some author tales and fables

without Disney Princesses.

On this homebound day,

with amenities or no,

we find warmth in family.

~

Even when tempers

flare, it’s a whole lot better

than the cold out there.

Life has challenges

and comforts. Both ask for our

awareness and attention.

~

And attend, also,

little ails discomfiting;

the harbingers of heartache.

All preparations

are most likely overkill,

unless the worst transpires.

~

Better to prepare

for the worst than be taken

by surprise with no options.

Three days in advance

store shelves already picked clean.

What will Friday night be like?

~

Forecasts of snow tend

to make Virginians a bit

flakey but quite well prepared.

As the temperature

slowly sinks, my gratitude

for our warm home grows.

~

The warmth of the hearth,

Hestia’s most loving gift,

is the heart of every home.

Her brown clothes tattered

She stands proud by river’s side

White Lady of the forest

~

Wearing a blanket

of snow over her brown clothes,

she glows happily.

The squirrels demand

they get the peace prize as they’re

as worthy as what’s his name.

~

Squirrels just want it to

trade for some small concession

from “peaceful” Honey-badger.

Unexpected flash

purple in the winter wood

vibrant bloom out of season?

~

Something left behind

by some blooming idiot?

You’d have to get close to tell.

I wish I could save

a bit of this bright sunshine

for comfort on days turned gray.

~

Saved in memory

awaiting resurrection

when the need for warmth is great.

The Camels are back!

Terrors of my childhood,

ploddings echo in old ears.

~

May you find your way

to a lush oasis with

no assistance from those beasts.

The smell was so bad

they thought that skunk in the road

was an ice agent.

~

Would that ice agents

were just as slow on the draw

as that late unlamented.

Is the government

a giant confidence game-

one great big Three-Card Monte?

~

The confidence men

try every trick in the book

to control our minds and hearts.

When kindness whispers

in our ears, may we not let

anger drown it out.

~

Whispered kind council

swims warmly in open hearts;

anger drowns in icy rage.

Windy two-faced day

brings bright sunshine in the south

yet to the north dark clouds reign.

~

Windy two-facedness

somehow reminds me of some

folks in high places

The coldness of ice

becomes more apparent with

the passing of each harsh day.

~

May their frozen hearts

break from all the ill they’ve done

when, in due time, justice comes.

When a bad actor

does good for the wrong reasons,

it’s hard to cheer the action.

~

Let’s cheer the action,

knowing the bad can sometimes

be an instrument of good.

There’s plenty of food

and plenty of room, but still

they flutter and fume.

~

They think the choicest

spot and morsel must be theirs,

so off they fly… to Greenland?

Labor has a way

of erasing heady thoughts;

unearthing a sense of peace.

~

At least it’s something

we can control unlike those

heady thoughts that haunt our soul.