WINTER BLUES

Nobody smiles as they walk by
shoulders hunched beneath their coats
and faces pale as the gray sky
tempers as short as winter oats

In truth I'm part of this drab crowd
on this cold late winter day
eyes turned down and bald head bowed
and feet as cold as damp red clay

It's thirty nine and misting rain
even birds are under cover
gone with their cheerful refrain
a sparrow is all I can discover

Long gone now the flame brushed trees
the only color now is evergreen
and a holly berry's tease
about the only red that's seen

So now winter get gone fast
I'm ready for the start of spring
the sooner mud and clouds are past
the sooner I'll hear songbirds sing