Ask Me

Winter falls.
The little creek is now a sheet of ice
covered over with a blanket of snow.

Ask me why I’m still here.
Ask me why the echoes called me
back to the campfire circle.
Why I look up at the stars-
Perfect mirrors of the frost on the ground-
as I freeze
next to the ghosts of summer.

My woods! My trees!
Remember me?
Can you still?
When the wind shook the ropes high in the air,
I screamed with the rest of them
When the songs flew to the summer moon,
I laughed loud with the rest of them.
When we left,
I cried too.

Oh, how I wish I could stay
and remember with you.
I didn’t ask to leave.

Please,
I beg of you,
erase my mistakes once more,
so I can return for you.
And when the earth turns round again,
I’ll come back for you.
We’ll free the ghosts of summer,
and laugh as the world comes alive again.

Remember me once more.