Metaphors and Musings

Now we fast-forward from poems about the autumn and arrive at a poem about the winter by Kaitlin. This poem, like Pete's poem below, is inspired by the Art on the Move painting Winter Street Scene found in the right-hand column of this blog. Though it takes a more traditional approach to the painting, the metaphor of the title and the precise, intricate word choice makes this poem stirring in a different, quiet way. I'm partial to the alliteration "warming the wintery wonder" in the last stanza. Doesn't that perfectly capture the melting of snow?

White Butterflies

Unknowing people sleep,
Behind windows shut tight,
The silent world outside,
Freshly transformed overnight.
The street sides are iced,
With a frosty quilt.

Colorful vibrant houses,
So sneakily disguised
By winter’s frozen mask.
Once clear blue skies,
Are now veiled behind,
A curtain of grey clouds.

A flurry of snow flakes,
Pours from the skies,
Dancing, fluttering,
Delicate white butterflies,
Feathering the earth,
Kissing the ground.

Sleepers awake,
To this fairyland of sparkle,
Their warm breath fogging the windows.
Slipper worn feet patter the floor,
Scuffing the cold hard wood.

As noon creeps closer,
The sun peeps out,
Warming the wintery wonder.
The frosty earth is hugged by its warmth.
Its radiant rays make the white world glimmer,
But dancing, fluttering, pouring from the skies,
Melting white butterflies.