Winter Solstice

from The Last Tribe on Earth by Anthony Tao, Liane Halton

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lyrics

Winter Solstice

It was cold is all I remember,
It was dim and dimming.
Bare stems quivered, maybe.
I don’t know, it was cold.

It was cold to hear the cats
Blazoning wishes on the wind.
They howled about fair wages
For the fair work of living.

It was cold to see the sky
Gazed upon by poets.
Did they know the fire in the stars
Burns also in their hearts?

In this winter in my head
A light snow powdered park benches.
We passed under yellow ovals
And blinked in the clement dusting.

The moon drew out memory
And left our shadows huddling.
Habitual itinerants, seasonal disaffectives,
Loiterers wandering in the elements,

Do you know the weight that breath
Can achieve, just like absence?
The cats who all night announced their location
Paused to let light announce the morning.

I am reminded how far I’ve come
And how far yet is left to go.
It was cold, I remember. It was dim and dimming.
Thank God darkness is temporary.

credits

from The Last Tribe on Earth, released March 20, 2019

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about

Anthony Tao, Liane Halton Beijing, China

LIANE HALTON graduated from Rhodes University in South Africa in classical guitar performance and composition. ANTHONY TAO is an editor and writer whose poetry has appeared in publications such as Prairie Schooner, Borderlands, The Cortland Review, Kartika Review, Frontier, Asian Cha, etc. ... more