Winter Elegy
I sing the low elegy
of winter, the subdued song
of darkness washing over
whatever light will lift us
when the right time comes.
This song is sad but makes
the invisible light we carry
even brighter by the contrast
it prepares us for. The song
we hear in this dark is not wrong,
but must be listened to differently
from the musical exuberance
of light anyone can hear.
To hear the pulse of dark
song is to hear a song
that carries the light encoded
within itself. You don’t have
to see God in this dark song
to believe in the coming
of the light but unless you’re
in tune with the world of spirit
your ears will not perceive
the dark elegy of winter turning
and lifting slowly toward rebirth.
Norbert Krapf, Indiana Poet Laureate 2008-10, has published nine poetry collections, the most recent last year from Indiana Univ. Press, Songs in Sepia and Black and White. This year American Dreams: Border Crossings, seven prose poem cycles, will appear from Mongrel Empire Press. Norbert taught for 34 years at Long Island University, where he directed the C.W. Post Poetry Center. As Indiana Poet Laureate, he stressed the reunion of poetry and music and held a 2011-12 Creative Renewal Fellowship to combine poetry and blues from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, where he has lived since 2004. He was a featured reader at the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival last year.