Unprepared

 A cold wind winds its way

down the lake, bringing snow

in its wake, a cold this soon

too cold for my comfort zone, even

as winter approaches quickly, the months

ahead of snow and cold and ice, a season

I’m not ready for, yet again. I prefer

the gradual dropping of the sun’s warmth,

barely perceptible, creeping slowly upon me,

a time to adjust and prepare, getting

ready for the change of seasons; so too,

the changes of living, time and age advancing on us.

We often fail to see this coming, adjusting

as we go along, it approaching in the aches

and pains and slowing down of our lives,

unprepared as we are for growing older.

 

Perhaps, though, it is best that way, unprepared,

delighting in ourselves, old friends,

old memories and new ways of seeing the world,

remembering who we are and drinking in

the moments, the hours, the days and weeks, fearless

as winter approaches and the months

of snow and cold and ice, the seasons

of our own lives changing.