Winter Song from FAWM 2023 by Gary McGath

A winter morning, I am waiting for the sun.
The wind outside reminds me what we all were told.
It calls and laughs to say it has already won.
So little stands between me and the deadly cold.

No beings have come out to stand and call its bluff.
No motors run, no birds sing out, and no dogs bark.
As I look outside, I do not feel strong enough
When I hear shaking branches in the noisy dark.

Out past the roads, the deer all look for ways to hide
In places sheltered from the wind and thick with trees.
Enough survive, though many weak ones will have died
Before the springtime says they will no longer freeze.

Here as I sit behind my walls, still not quite warm,
I know how little stands between me and the chill,
How easily I might be in the dark and storm,
Rememb'ring winter hasn't lost the power to kill.

Once others on this land had only open fire
And, like the wolves and deer, they paid a heavy price.
When they were ill prepared, the outcome could be dire,
As morning left their bodies lying cold as ice.

The wind alone is moving in this deadly night,
Till finally its dark and lonely time is done.
Now in the east at last I see a hint of light
Above the trees, as I await the rising sun.

• Acoustic
• filk
• seasonal
• Boston