the moon smiles down at me

from its reticent February lair

elongated days of wintery dark

entombed in confining corridors

stretch their rigid bindings of ice

fractured fissures slowly bleed out

tears of escaping light and warmth

thawing snows that inter time’s sins

a fresh grace of soft—verdant paint

spills mercy upon an emergent spring

donning our world with rekindled hope