As Winter Came Stealing In

And now, before the irretrievable hour pass, To wind their way into the dark, Let us hold for a space this love we feel, This shivering moment in the night. Before the turn of a card may tell Of what may come to be, Let us taste the wine of memories being born And feel its bite, the ash beneath the sweet, Recalling how the present slides away Without return To leave us groping after her; The shapes and sounds and smiles and sighs We may never fully know again. Lady Muse appears in the lengthening shadows, In silence and unbidden And with a nod commands I delve within my mind again And pick out what treasures she's seen fit to hide there Against a colder day. I obey And she is gone; The darkness deepens And the wind whispers mysteries to me In a tongue I have never heard, Yet understand.