Winter's Song

Winter's Song

Beyond the iron will and way
Is a melody that rhymes with shame.
Desperate in face and name,
Changed for worse by winter’s tongue;
In darkened nooks and dreary corners
It whispers soft and sweet and low,
Beneath the candle’s tender glow
It beckons the drifter’s wretched heart.
It loved her once, the fabled maiden,
The angel born from heaven’s snow,
But left her chambers long ago
To brave the sanctioned sinner’s byway.
A dismal tune that speaks to the fool
And calls the coward from his grave,
A song to calm the livid slave
By promising summers that never will come.