Life Sentence

Winter chill seeps through me
Encasing my heart in an impenetrable vault of ice
No pretty words or grand gestures, a capable auger
Tis the season of death
For me, no more springtimes remain
My hopes, my dreams fell like burnished leaves
Whisked away by gale force winds
Coming to rest beneath unseen trees
Even if I still cared enough to search they’d never be found
My friends once flickered like fireflies on a hot summer’s eve
But they too disappeared with the first frost
My joy, the flower petals of my life, wilted brown and brittle, rotted to dusty nothing
The cold lodged within radiates from my frozen husk holding all semblance of life at bay
My seasons have passed
I am eternally in the bleakness of deep winter