TheWinter of my Dreams
by
Stephen R Nayler
My body racked with pain
My mind drifts back to Ireland
In the spring time once again.
To sapphire skies and emerald fields
With sparkling diamond streams
To rainbow trout and plovers eggs
And devious boyhood schemes.
Then summer came and took me away
To distant foreign shores
To see the world with all its hate
And vicious, deadly wars.
How could a world so beautiful
When seen through children's eyes
Turn out to be so brutal
Removed of it's disguise.
Then love arrives to pick me up
And turn me upside down
Her golden hair and sparkling eyes
Dressed in a ballroom gown.
How could one so beautiful
So young and full of life
Be content to stay at home
Be a mother, be a wife,
Autumn arrives with unusual haste
While life begins to slow
Three children grown, eager to leave
I'll miss them, when they go.
Winter arrives with an icy blast
A stroke! they say as I awake,
Try to move, form some words,
Only mumbled sounds I make.
Then I'm back in Ireland
With my childish dreams and schemes
As the clouds begin to darken
On the winter of my dreams.
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