Tiny, silver crystals sprinkle the earth
as they float slowly down
from the place of their birth.
Peppering white along the brown,
in the cold they may be found.
From frostiness they are born,
iciness follows them to the ground,
piercing like a thorn
Many there are
yet none are quite the same.
They have six sides whether near or far,
and their intricate designs are their fame.
Yet each is very small,
in large groups they strike fast
and leave piles that are tall
when the tempest is past.
They bring coldness to the touch
and get caught in your hair.
With unpleasantness of such
they even scare away the bear.
The wind whistles in your ear
as it sends the snow floating down.
And all that you can hear
is that there is a blizzard in town.
Although very unpleasant
when blown in your face.
When all its energy is spent
it is peaceful throughout space.
It is safe to step outside
and as you can guess,
there is no need to hide.
You may forget
all the unpleasantness
for gone is all the wind's blow.
And all that lies
is a fine layer of snow,
and of the ghastly weather
there are no ties.
Fehu bestoweth golden hope
Uruz doth endure battles through strength
Thurisaz provoketh strife and guardeth my rose
Whilst Anuz communicates with divine length
Raidho pursueth journeys of measured rhythm
Kenaz illuminates creative spiritual knowledge
Gebo granteth gifts as infinitum
As Wunjo doth harness harmony in a college
Hagalaz transformeth with tempests and chaos
Nauthiz, by resistance, takes constraint
Isa blossoms in stillness, as iciness plays on
Yet, Jera rewardeth cycles of harvest in haste
Eihwaz endureth death, resilience, and rebirth
Perthro revealeth mystery and knowledge
Algiz defendeth with steadfast and mighty girth
So, Sowilo shineth in sunny sparks of voltage
Tiwaz upholdeth justice, making a leader
Berkano bringeth fertility with new beginnings
Ehwaz uniteth partners and team seekers
For Mannaz exalteth communal incentives
Laguz floweth as a stream to raise intuition
Ingwaz concealeth fertile power and energy
Dagaz breaketh visions from night imprisoned
Whilst Othala preserveth heritage in memories
I am the prisoner of the ice voices
That talk to me with a lashing air
About cold and dark lands
Where forever, I will find my grave.
Chilled by the cold speech,
I let myself be hurt by the iciness of their words,
While I stir in the extinguished embers of life
With a long bone from my leg.
With a strange black hat
And with an old rag as a suit,
Without companions to urge me on their way,
I remain a skeleton in a clay tomb.
Do not be despicable
It is really terrible
How your attitude is being
Your humanity is fleeting
More and more each time I see
Your mannerism, its clearly
Out of control, so out of whack
All you ever do is attack
With words of fury and disgust
That break down and badly bust
Anyone that comes your way
Thinking it is fun to play
With the fragile emotions
Clueless about any notion
How much pain you are inflicting
Or the way it is affecting
The lives you are tearing apart
Where is the love in your heart
Your ice cold and do not know
How this freezing leaves a glow
Of hurtfulness or does it matter
Your about to really shatter
Into a million broken pieces
Everyone who ever reaches
All the iciness inside
The dark pit you always hide
Only coming out when you
Want someone to feel blue
Does it make you happy when
A day is ruined once again
By your insensitivity
Can't you realize and see
There is another way to live
If you'd try to care and give
Less of your ignorance
In return you'd know kindness
Thawing that icy cold heart
You can make a better start
Oh, damned February,
As you breathe your last
Exhale in farewell iciness
Cold crystals fading gasp.
Thus, is your fate in Northeast climes
A fickle season’s whims and wonts
Harsh winter backing slow away
retreats before springs warming taunts.
Subtle hints of flowing sap
Bid farewell to your fading bluster
And lo, within the frosty mud
Snow touched Jonquils boldly cluster.
So, pack your bags but rest assured
Your next year stay has been reserved.
John G. Lawless
©2/28/2023
like an old oak with a dried up knothole
I stand in the wind, feeling her iciness now
arthritis flares up in my roots when there is a wind chill
Wind chill being the perfect word for it.
like an immovable mountain, I stand my ground.
Sure that I am right; unwilling to change any ideas
for I have changed them too many times already.
This is what getting older does for some mountains.
like a summers day I dance in many colors of oranges
Pinks, reds, purples and greens too; I am a frothy fluffy mess.
Time has shown me that being myself and living my truths is preferable
to being a young willow whipping around in the wind, thinking she knows everything.
The sky hounds are tracking me down.
In the cul-de-sac of social anxiety drive...
Despite covering my tracks in a hot, peppered wind...
Sticking the heart into a bowl of burning dice.
(to cover the scent of predictability).
They've arrived. To bore their way back into the core.
Pick the scab off every weakness.
Exposing every soul blemish,
(that crippling, iron face of shyness).
That's chased me through the back alleys of life.
The sky hounds have cornered me again.
waving stingers -coming down hard
like an anvil in the night
getting off on the vibe of
my twitching mind.
Years later I'd half-mastered.
All those black lessons from the past
Kneaded my heart into a quasi-flower.
Dipped the petals in a whorl of lime.
Attracting that swarm of hollow iciness.
Then laughed as their stingers snapped.
When the wet cement of karma had crapped in their minds.
Streaks of light
in splendid symmetry,
Carefully crocheted clouds,
A tailor-made semicircle.
A stolen moment.
My eyes fixated on the
fiery blaze under its veil,
A blood orange kiss on
every blue cloud’s tip.
He slips with every
tug at the cord,
As the silvered moon
rose on her smoky sled
Heavy clouds drag themselves,
mourning along the
sodden cold night...
Until the dimmed stars
gleamed into spotlight.
As though a Japanese fan,
The spine tingling sky
has folded itself
into the night.
Winter or summer,
dusk always sheds a
lingering iciness behind:
Didn’t today just die?
Not in this millennium ..or the next
Did I ever fathom
That I would recognize
An adoration like fairy tale
All the simplicities
And complications
That made my heart
Coated with iciness
You soon thawed away
By the articulations of guarantee
I conclude you see me....
Glabrous and vulnerable
Nobody will ever know
All the many avenues
I’ve traveled....has been amiss
Consistently dismissed
Taking unnecessary risk
In all the hopes of being free
To have devotion without immodesty
And ridiculous reprieve
On the wings of love we sail
Into the abyss of our fairytale
Autumn
A fine time of year
Its not the same as the other seasons, remember
Autumn has an exceptional allure and aroma
Autumn is the time when the elements are askew
Neither friend or foe,neither beast or beauty
Winter It's not the season I savor
The unwelcomed anguish
The atrocious winds and the inhumane iciness
and a yearning for daffodils to revel themselves
Springtime when nature will absolve itself of winter.
Arriving with a placid assuage.
Rapidly maturing into summer
The abundant days of summer,with its unkind heat
Days once ardent
Will soon quench us again.
Returning to autumn
A fine time of year.
and poetry succumbed
its tentacles loped off
lest they touch one
who came too near
their sting drained
vitriol and venom
adrift on a motionless sea
an oil slick calm of
“Hallmarkian” mediocrity
denying the rise of waves
the hollow roar of breakers
the depth of truth’s iciness
numbing the poets soul
John G. Lawless
©11/19/2018
I don't know what I am doing
There's a tremendous storm brewing
Deep inside, not staying in
Causing chills upon my skin
From the icy cold in me
This was not my destiny
To be frigid and so bleak
I am at the very peak
Goosebumps running down my spine
Frozen specks of frost will shine
Every day that wont let go
More and more the cold will grow
It is taking over fast
I feel the chilly blast
Of your loud and strong good bye
No matter how hard I try
I hear your harsh words agian
When the sun and moon begin
To rise and fall like my heart
Why did you ever depart
From my love so very warm
Our love weather was so calm
Until the day you walked out
Now I only scream and shout
From the cold heart ache I feel
And an iciness so real
Do not be despicable
It is really terrible
How your attitude is being
Your humanity is fleeting
More and more each time I see
Your mannerism, its clearly
Out of control, so out of whack
All you ever do is attack
With words of fury and disgust
That break down and badly bust
Anyone that comes your way
Thinking it is fun to play
With the fragile emotions
Clueless about any notion
How much pain you are inflicting
Or the way it is affecting
The lives you are tearing apart
Where is the love in your heart
Your ice cold and do not know
How this freezing leaves a glow
Of hurtfulness or does it matter
Your about to really shatter
Into a million broken pieces
Everyone who ever reaches
All the iciness inside
The dark pit you always hide
Only coming out when you
Want someone to feel blue
Does it make you happy when
A day is ruined once again
By your insensitivity
Can't you realize and see
There is another way to live
If you'd try to care and give
Less of your ignorance
In return you'd know kindness
Thawing that icy cold heart
You can make a better start
This emptiness inside is absurdly loud
And it rings in my ears so I do not sleep
It's the thought of you
My memory
Which is surely fogged by now
I chose to remember your safe, loving arms
Somehow drowning out the iciness in which you abandoned me
I feel you looking at me
Accusing me
I could've tried a little harder
I didn't understand your pain
You have crippled my heart
Unfair as you had always been I suppose
I unlocked myself to you
And you gobbled me up
I never saw which direction you had come from
Once loving, my eternal friend
Never wanting to see your likes again
As I lay awake you are there
And you speak to me
Will you move along?
You, I blame, for such dysfunctional sleep
You, I blame, for taking my capacity to love with you
You were my knight
But you are sick now so am I
bathed in such splendor
in front of us blue water -
verdancy behind
how very cold it is though
like ice, it cuts to the bone
this frigid beauty
I let my eyes feast on it
ignoring the cold
the scent of pine is wafting
I breathe in tranquility
breathing in fragrance
I let the iciness go
my love shall warm me
the fresh trees and ocean air
can’t compare to his sweet warmth
July 14, 2017 for the Contest of John Anderson
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.