Always

ALWAYS. ******** Understand. I MUST go On these clearing acts of Instinct and inspiration, these flashings As they come. For a blizzard has Been moving in and the snow is Piling up by the foot...So the doors Must be kept cleared. The temperatures are Not rising. The storm pounds in From the west, but I part the curtains awaiting The sun to gleam up from the east. These Enemies — oppression and fear — have come Disguised as beautifully rising white drifts, Satisfied that I will drowse by the window As snow turns the entire landscape into silence. Understand! Encroaching dark shadows are easier To overcome, for they reach forward bringing A dis-ease that I must fight and know They will tremble upon my call to Jesus. But, this massive blizzard is a masked, deceitful Effort of death to try my will to live And act upon what remains to me: Instinct and inspiration, as born within me. In the ‘70’s, in Chicago I survived a massive dropping Of snow over days of falling. Snow was Shoveled and packed into chest-high, Undulating routes to trudge as a necessary Innovation for sidewalks. Once, I stood at A stoplight on a mound higher than my height. That was practice in preface for now. See! All things have their meanings. All things. I am confirmed. I will shovel Out from this blizzard with prayer and poetry And love...I must. I must. Thanks be to God! *************************************** (C) sally young Eslinger8/24/2020