| Bundle up, son
|
| In winters hard,
|
| You can’t let the wind blow the warmth from your heart
|
| A storm—this is not a storm; |
| this descends
|
| From heaven, it seems, and without end
|
| I touch for awhile that shaking limb
|
| Too soft on the end; |
| in the middle—too slim
|
| My eyes not on yours, but the limbs that extend
|
| To heaven, it seems, or without end.
|
| Your work for awhile with stronger wood
|
| To fell with an axe. |
| So you stand. |
| So it stood
|
| For what? |
| and for why? |
| Well, that depends
|
| If it’s fire we need; |
| in fire it ends
|
| Or look to the steps that lead to sleep
|
| A mountain for me, for a boy but a leap
|
| Before you were born, they’d started to bend
|
| And soon they will break, so sooner we’ll mend.
|
| And under the door comes rushing air
|
| In summer a breeze; |
| now a threat; |
| so repair
|
| But none of these things overwhelm.
|
| I contend:
|
| Don’t worry if it breaks. |
| It all gets mended in the end
|
| Now look through the glass to Norman’s Hill
|
| Though barren of fruit, a promise was made that this cold cannot kill
|
| That one of these days, should God allow,
|
| What’s there in the earth will blossom somehow
|
| This orchard, your mind, they need the freeze
|
| To come to the spring with a strength and an ease
|
| What quickens my heart and waters my eyes is
|
| Too soon will come life if the temperature rises
|
| Goodbye and keep cold, I know what I said
|
| Don’t mean to confuse, or to fill up your head
|
| With too much supposed wisdom—only words
|
| Distracting myself from something that hurts
|
| So bundle up son, your heart, your mind
|
| Be naked above, grab the wind from behind
|
| Our life is on earth, to that we attend
|
| But heaven, I hear, is without end
|
| A storm this is not. |
| This is how we ascend
|
| And heaven, I hear, is without end |