Winter, winter how we feel your icy touch
The earth is now under your freezing clutch
All that falls in our ears is the howl of gales from far
The night sky is covered in grayness without a single star

In the dawn, nowhere can one spot the buzzing bees
      Icicles hang from boughs of leafless trees
Birds sit with drooping wings in their woody nests
      Within eye shot, no trace of any roaming beasts

Trees stand sleeping in the biting cold
And the sun has lost its bright sheen of gold
From nowhere comes the song of a single bird
On the slopes, one cannot sight the grazing herd

Roof tops are crusted with flakes of snow
Which the sun with sharp beams alone can thaw
Piles of snow lie heaped on the barren ground
And the entire Earth lies in a sea of ice drowned

Busy streets and pavements are now lying bare
People stay indoors and to be out, they hardly dare
      The rodents have gone into hibernation in their ditch
And life altogether has gone out of pitch

In the smiting chill of a dreadful wintry night
When through every fiber n’ nerve is the cold bite
How we like to sit cocooned beside the hearth
Sipping a cup of steaming tea in rising mirth

In such quiet hours, one can peruse into the pages of tomes
That will transport one to enchanting magical zones
Or engage in a hearty chat with friends and family
Thus turning even the bleakest hours sweet and lively

Hello Poetry is a blue place this calendar year*
for we have seen many a good poet disappear
their inspiring words not around to delight in
of this expression the site is somewhat thin

Hello Poetry has experienced a considerable loss
gone all of that imagery so beautiful in gloss
the colors they deftly painted faded as they left
which makes the heart feel palpably bereft

Hello Poetry members those of excellent ink
missing from our writing fellowship's rink
we'll not forget the contribution they made
as each one of them showed the finest parade

Hello Poetry our brothers and sisters of the quill
departed us with yet more stanzas to spill
their individual styles we'll not sight again
*truly a thought which is so downcast of refrain