Before the Bloom*
I used to write… a lot. As a child / teenager I wrote something every day… be it a journal entry or short story, but most often I expressed myself through poetry. When I moved for the first time I stopped writing completely. I was (initially) so devastated about moving to Btown that I gave up what I loved most–my writing. University and the constant demand for academic essays removed any remaining desire to write… until I started writing here.
I’ve even started writing poetry again… but before I’m brave enough to share anything new with you, I wanted to post the last poem I wrote as a teenager. I think it’s still my favourite piece I’ve ever written as I can still remember where I was when I wrote it, but I can also feel the way I felt when I wrote it. It was a chilly January evening and the normal chaos of my house up north had subsided to a warm silence as I watched the snowfall out a window.
The air I breathe is crisp and cold– my breath breaks the still night.
The stars in the sky shine like gold; their beauty is my delight.
I lay in piles of fallen snow as it falls gently from the sky.
One tiny little snowflake fluttered down amidst the breeze,
It settled on my snowman’s crown o’rlooked by swaying trees.
The snowman had a heav’nly glow with a twinkle in its eye.
Its smile was made from coal with a wood pipe to complete,
It warmed me to my soul–from my head right to my feet.
I stared in childlike wonder at the man that I had made…
When suddenly across the sky flashed a brilliant scene,
A shooting star caught my eye and pulled me from my dream.
The star soared o’er and under until finally it laid
Somewhere in a world beyond where dreams and wishes grow.
I closed my eyes, yawned, and tasted falling snow.
Higher and higher rose the moon as time just passed me by.
It was late– the icy chill in the air deepened as I lay,
Still I laid there without care wanting just to stay.
Knowing I must go in soon I sighed a heavy sigh.
To leave this heaven wasn’t right–it seemed almost like a sin,
But I bade the world goodnight and blew kisses to the wind. (2001)
Shop Girl*
