A Bone Chiling Minnesota Winter birth, 1949

by

Mango Tree

The raw, wet, bitter cold snow insisted that it lie outside
the hospital room of my birth, it demanded that it be a witness
here the great sweeps of snow stop six feet from the birthing room,
few know why it comes, or why it refuses to turn away

February in Minnesota, Blue Earth County, Mankato
the bitterness of this beginning, this frozen winter
land of the Sioux once, now of northern European settlers
farmers, like my family, tough, uneducated people

Survival was the key word everyone used,
ya gotta to survive, I did it, you will learn to
The stillness of the first day set the stage for my life’s travels,
the bitter coldness still sits within my bones

my smile, my optimism, my diligent creativity only tempers it
bone-chilling coldness rests in the marrow, in the fiber
it takes a good part of a lifetime to extract it
to replace it with love, tenderness, compassion, forgiveness

a bitter battle with life, a life that demands perseverance
Robert Bly states that wounds are a gift, a bittersweet gift
my wounds began at birth, they haunt me, I still carry them,
I am freer these days, the deep work has been worth it,

It’s warmer more often these days, I can see through the clouds
to the blue sky so vast that it could swallow me if it chose to
something I have learned, something I have learned
this world was made to be free in, I am leaving the other worlds.

NEXT?
Why don't you look at Desert Rat - The reason
by: Joyce Hemsley
from: Sunderland, England, UK

To visit all of Mango Tree's poems, click HERE

Check out these deals at Amazon.com

...the best independent ISP in the Twin Cities

To write us about this page,
contact willy@dreamagic.com (Willy Chaplin)