Thoughts on winter, as it departs

Obscurity. When you are alone. Truly alone. It is so very quiet. But the quiet is so deafeningly loud that it makes my ears ring.

Solitude had its downside. This is it. To find that one kindred spirit is perhaps a mountain too steep, a river too wide, and a path too long for me to walk . This deep longing I must learn to let go of, for it no longer serves me.

Pain is perhaps an ally but it is not my friend. Tonight I am changed. Steeled against the cold, I wrap my cloak tighter, lest what little warmth I have left escapes me.