Winter Depression

Winter Depression
by R. Hirosue


The seasons are changing.
Finally it is winter.
We are losing daylight.
Everything looks so gloomy and grey.
The quarrels of the seagulls
For once in summer were so festive,
Aggressive, almost belligerent, but now
Their cries are forlorn, distraught and desolate.

I have noticed I'm eating more.
Perhaps I'm going into hibernation.
I don't have bulimia I'm sure,
But I'm losing my imagination.
I can't focus on my homework or read.
All I ever do is eat and sleep,
Though the more I eat or sleep,
The more I succumb to my insatiable greed.
At night I still do my Pilates;
Each day I wake to measure my waist.
Blame it on winter for my own vanity.

I don't want to go out door.
The snow does not excite me anymore
When temperatures fall below zero.
But I have school to go to
And the buses don't run on schedule.
And the grim sight of the homeless scavenging empties,
Not only freezes their hands but also my soul.
Blame the government, blame Santa, or blame even God,
For not helping the hapless and needy more.

Where is the Winter Wonderland?
Where are the hot apple cider and the gingerbread man?
Where are the soldiers who should have come home?
Well, they are all out of reach far away on a mission,
To save the country, save the nation, save the world,
In these winter months over which I have my depression.