Cold winds begin to take over me
as each new day brings a new challenge.
I reach toward the sky, feeling it move
and the branches sway with indecision.
The fog settles and leaves with the wind.
Blanketing the earth with dreary cold,
each leaf is gone, crumbled to dust
on the knotted ground.
I’m begging to you, praying to you,
bring me color to splash the sky,
give me color to light up the landscape
because the inevitable days ahead
bring only shades of gray.
-Nicole Schoen, Coventry-