The Four Seasons 1983 Poem by Cecil (cj) Krieger

The Four Seasons 1983

WINTER

The ice fell from the clouds
Coating and bouncing off the highway

From time to time
The car shifted going down the road
As if the wheels had a mind of their own

Turning off the radio
To help concentrate on my driving
The hail sounded all about
Tic, tic, ticking with varying constant beats
All about and against the window
As the wipers frantically tried
To keep up with the cold frozen rain

The lights
Searching down the icy highway
Sparkled off the falling hail
Giving them the appearance
Of dancing diamonds

This was winter's last hoorah
A final stab at keeping spring at bay
A failed charge
Like the light brigade

While I
Was mesmerized
Steering down this gem-infested highway
With a front-row seat
To the beauty of driving through
The fall of winter

SPRING

She opened the curtain
In a darkened room
And the sun like water came rushing in
With light so blinding
That the flowers hanging in the window
Closed their eyes

On the rug, a shadow
Of a cat's tail tossing back and forth
She watched
As the old cat pondered it for a while
Then chased it into darkness

Steam from a hot cup of coffee
And smoke from a newly lit cigarette
Floated slowly out the window
Passing through a worn-out screen
Into the freshly washed spring air

With thoughts of gratitude
And a pair of worn-out jeans
She walked outside
With her floppy sun hat on
To tend her children in the garden

SUMMER

Surrounded by gold
As far as the eye can see
Above and below
It's summer again in the countryside

Children running about
Ripping flowers from the earth
In exchange for laughter
Scamper and hide along the lake

I often sit watching their small feet
Scurrying along the old winding paths
Kicking high into the air
The leaves of yesterday's fall

Bringing back to mind
My world as a child
Filled with summer warmth and magic
From two feet above the ground

AUTUMN

While my house slept silently
I stepped from the doorway
Into a cold October night
With the sweetening scent of autumn
And fresh fragrance of dying leaves
Dancing all about me

The wind guided me to that special place
A place where you and I always met
Only to find nothing
But a scattering of summer
Tossed haphazardly on the ground

I know that you have gone home
Back to the city lights and sounds of traffic
But next year
When we gather for summer
And the barn fires burn high
Touching the stars
I shall return here
To the sound of trees bursting with life
The stars falling into the morning
When the leaves of autumn come again