Awakening Poem by Rodney Epperson

Stinging cold wind howls against the ice caked windows as another January has set in

Gray and melancholy mixing in a twisted partnership of gloom lurk in the dusk before night

Though the fire I built roars true in the fireplace keeping its dauntless vigil against the looming darkness and cold

I feel the frigid night washing over me as if I were in the midst of it

The unexpected passing of you has left me more acutely aware of sensations such as this

When you were still with me was it the distraction of you or the sheer passion of our love that left such things as the frigid cold of the season unnoticed by me

Either way it was you and me so alive and almost always carefree
Nothing mattered much beyond the scope of that

Now I find myself testing the boundaries of this new world
My vision is dull as nothing seems as bright and colorful as you
Sound and taste distorted in an almost comical way
Oh how you would laugh seeing me like this
In that I see my hope

Here you are with me still though seemingly unseen

A ghost of you, no

Memories of the best person I ever knew will sustain me like your love did on so many unnoticed winter nights such as this