ALMOST AN ABSTRACT

"These are the nights
we let ourselves think that winter,
this particular winter---
will be the one that goes on forever.

We start to lose memory 
of what spring smells like,
the feel of summer's warmth
against our skin.

I keep having to relearn:
that time- -
moving forward- -
does circle.
It is in the circling
where I lose confidence.

That spring will come around.
As will summer.
then fall."
- Susan Hand