Earth's Winter Sleep is a hypertext poem that will take you through various aspects of winter. While the human expectations of the season - delays at school, sledding, snowmen, and of course, Christmas - are all well-known, this poem will give you a nature-based look at the wonders of the coldest time of the year.
You can [[read]] the poem from here.The seasons cycle in endless round,
Summer and winter! Heat and frost!
The leaves grow green, then change and fall,
The warm breeze shifts to bitter cold.
‘Tis the harshest of seasons, and yet the most kind.
Bringing death to the leaves and life to the soil.
[[Winter’s landscape of snow]] is born to be melted,
To water the ground for the new growth to come.
Insulating the world, the snowdrifts lay softly,
Freezing above but with trapped warmth below.
Underneath that soft bed of white,
The earth, asleep, waits for spring.
Lazy snowflakes shuffle down
While all things hurry to their homes.
Hoofprints leave trails where deer have walked
Searching for green in the [[blizzard of white]].One by one, the flakes, they fall,
Together they wrap the earth in a shroud.
A soft veil of death, tender but sure,
a numbing caress of darkness and cold.
Icicles hang in glittering rows,
Sharp as steel yet fragile as glass.
Winter's crown, cold manifested,
Deadly and beautiful, strong and frail.
The blizzard howls long and low,
Showing winter’s awesome power,
Animals shiver and tree branches shudder.
The world crouches down to wait out the storm.
The wind in mighty current blows,
The [[flakes dip and twirl]], they soar and swirl.
Dancing in the air, the sprites
Of crystal ice come tinkling down,
Drifting softly here to there,
in frosted chorus without measure.
Delicate, graceful, myriad sisters,
Pirouetting in the skies.
Not a twin among them seen,
Masterpieces carved in ice.
With graceful steps they make their way
From puffy clouds to frosted ground,
Spreading their skirts of purest white
To join the dancers [[now at rest.]]
A time to rest, all things know.
To bury oneself in comfort and warmth.
Asleep in a burrow, a nest, a den,
Till sunlight returns and the world is reborn.
The drowsy, frosted world will stir,
And gentle warmth seep through the air.
New growth will bloom and wake the ground,
Welcoming the [[dawning spring.]]
Awaken! Life sings out for joy
Golden beams meet blinking eyes
As those who lingered underground
Find that sleep no longer beckons.
Color returns in a burst of flowers
and grass springs green beneath newborn feet.
Mothers and fathers welcome their young
To a future made bright by the seasons' smile.
[[Opening Page]]