Polar Bear Swim
This winter night, the fire bright
sings Auld lang Syne.
Old acquaintances not forgot,
their memory soothes winter’s chill.
This Requiem written ‘cross the sky,
Whispers lyrics of time so quickly passed
Sand and water flirt on ebbing tide…
Upward fire’s incense burns,
The smell of cedar and fir herald forth
a year bound in cinder and smoke.
Hemmed between the press of night
thoughts mirror fire’s crackling light.
In embers smoke and fading glow
a years remembrances
take their flight.
Around the pyre we stand,
Like wagons
circled against the dark.
Greetings shared
shoulder to shoulder,
buttressed against what was,
A new year now waiting…….
Huddled against the cold
swimmers return…
Goose fleshed, and gasping,
Land borne they pad.
‘cross wet sand and rock,
Human salmon seeking
streams of origin,
one by one, gather with us
On this night, by this fire,
together we stand.
Acquaintances and strangers,
friends all, friends as one.
Pressed between heaven’s light
and earth’s darkness,
Each heart releases hope,
Our prayers for a new year….
Beautiful poem for the end of the old and beginning of the new...wishing you a beautiful new beginning.
I love your writing, Daddio. So concisely descriptive and beautiful.