Ghosts Of Winter
A poem by Peter Devonald

Ghosts Of Winter

Did you think if we just gave them a proper pep talk
the leaves wouldn’t fall?
Encourage, nurture and persuade,
there is a better way than this,

there has to be a better way than this.
Naked and withdrawn, stark against low winter sun,
lack of protection, fragile dreams
to face the wind and snow alone, unfurled,
to know this world unmasked to shiver and show
vulnerability, such terrible vulnerability.

Dormant and disarmed, frail, fragile and weak,
abandoned and marooned in sleep.
Fallen autumn leaves look up at the sky,
their parents whisper goodbye
they leave gracefully, beautifully, softly as snow —

listlessly scatters without a sound
or gasp or frown, covers living and dead,
all leaves give back in love instead.
Sturdy fluttering ghosts of winter
the chill and thrill and spectacle to witness —

landscapes reveal themselves, to gasp and shiver, a dance, a mosaic,
an ever changing whirl of leaves caught in spiral and whirr, wind
eddies helix, double twist and blow, one final voyage, and then adieu.
Seasons collapse and fall, yet still trees believe in the spirit of life
to dive off from the cliff, to let all things go.

To be free, delicate and confident that spring will catch them
at the last gasp, just as all seems lost. Overwintered leaves burst
from buds reawaken and metamorphosed as they come alive,
breathe new dawns, opportunities flourish in the warming sun
as another winter done, another new birth has just begun.

About the Author:

Peter Devonald is winner Heart Of Heatons Poetry Award 2023 and 2021, joint winner FofHCS Poetry 2023, winner Waltham Forest Poetry 2022. Nominated for Forward Prize: Best Single Poem, two Best Of The Net nominations and poet in residence Haus-a-rest. Published extensively including London Grip, Artists Responding To…, Forget-Me-Not Press and Poetic Map Of Reading. Screenwriter winner 50+ film awards, former senior judge Peter Ustinov Awards (iemmys) and Children’s Bafta nominated.

www.scriptfirst.com
https://www.instagram.com/peterdevonald/
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