where we have been

where we have been both sombre and perplexed

relieved in winter by the thoughts of light

in coming seasons knowing that the bright

hours that have passed will leave me no less vexed

than heavy cloud in this wintry context

of damp and rain and days that fade to night

with little notice nothing it seems is right

as we  engage to find out what comes next

this is the law by which our lives are bound

in lands both narrow and unseemly wide

to face the future with unsteady arms

in fainting hope of finding safer ground

not certain that there is a winning side

and listening for the end of all alarms