there once was a girl
whose name was of a season;
the season of cold, of frost and snow
and in which bright fire embers could glow.


there once was a girl
whose name was of a season
the season that came
and brought the storm that stole away
what was left of her own little family.


there once was a girl
whose name was the one that
the freezing breeze whispered
one fateful windy day.


there once was a girl
whose name she couldn’t bear to hear
as it was the last word
she once heard her mother say.


there once was a girl
whose name was spread around
she was known as the girl
who took her own life
for the pain was too much
and the guilt was too strong
that she had died but they had gone.


there once was a girl
whose name now rests on a plaque
on many a snow-coloured bench
on the frosty streets
of the neighbourhood
that she had once called her home.


each time the season comes
people say they hear
the name of the girl
upon the frozen lips
of a mother gone away

                “Winter...”