Thank you Jasper Kerkau, the rest of the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective and the other lights (Felicia, Rob, etc.) who have been shining for me this cold December.

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It has already

Been a long cold winter

Of the soul

For many of us

---

The losses large

The future uncertain

We are often

Filled with fear, with unease

---

My own mood

Has given me a severe

Case of vertigo

Of whiplash

---

More changeable

Than the weather

Low and then lower then lower still

Anxious, irritable

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Even I tire

Of the volume

Of poems

I have written

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About loneliness

About isolation

About endless tears

About walking in the twilight

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My mood is a suit that does

Not quite fit my body

Or fit my soul

This winter

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And yet. . .

And yet. . .

There are lights in the

This darkness

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Bright shining souls

Whose luminosity

May dim from time to time

But never truly falters

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Lights that guide

Lights that inspire

Souls so beautiful

So ethereal

---

That even I cannot

Be blind to them

And I find that my weary heart

Is still capable

---

Of profound gratitude

For each moment

Of peace, of hope

That these lights provide

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So I give thanks

For each and every one of you

Who choose to burn bright

Who are unapologetically

---

And fully

Your glorious

Transcendent selves

Lighting a path

---

Blazing a trail

And calling out to our

Lost burdened souls

That we are not alone

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Thank you for being a

Beacon in the night

For always

Calling us, calling me, home

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My deepest prayer

This stark December

Is that I can remember

My own inner incandescence

---

That I too

Can call out across

The distance and

Be a light in the darkness

Calling my brothers and sisters

In from this cold