…soon after summer was almost gone,

I saw what it had done to an old photograph.
The blues had become maroons, the reds
Bled into dark greens. Faces paled into half
Bleached shades of forgotten friends.
My anger emerged in livid shades of bile.
I took down all my pictures and made a face-down
Pile. We turned our faces determinedly away
From this light that had turned our nights to day
How wickedly seduced into believing
That the winter darkness and our sadness had anything
To do with each other. Now another
Spring woos me. Shows me how the past year
Framed me. Asks me to turn my face around
Think about putting protective film, this year,
On the windows that bring the sun in.
Grow a thicker skin.