How Could You Ever Love Me

How Could You Ever Love Me

How could you ever love me
now
after so many winters past,
carved rivulets form
upon my face,
winter cold tunnels
furrow
nettled branches
upon my lips —

now
when my arms and legs
are krummholz,
tree branches
disfigured by cruel
north winds —

what ever do you see
in my tired eyes
the way one tenderly beholds
a newborn eaglet
breaking from its shell
expectant
for its maiden flight —

do you see beyond the farthest
ebony-ice mountains,
the mystery of the uttermost
remote white stars,
the silent moon,
disregard
the momentary sparkle
of the here and now —

how could you ever love me
bone and marrow,
petal and sepal,
root and river.

D. G. Vachal © 2025

Image by Susan-lu4esm@pixabay

Winter Tanka 1:2

1

flock of geese in flight
black petals against the sky
can you hear their call
on a sunset in winter
discordant harmonicas

2

trees in winter’s sun
cast long afternoon shadows
snow on their branches
wingéd angels garbed in white
singing praise in high places

D. G. Vachal © 2025

Images by Hans Benn @pixabay; Fietzfotos@pixabay

Winter Haiku 15:17

15

January light
slowly dove-grey turns the sky
rains jasmine petals

16

lost in dark forest
i long for flames you kindled
to warm my cold arms


17

yet sparrow alights
upon a skeletal branch
sings in stark winter


D. G. Vachal © 2025

Image by Myungho Lee @Pixabay




Winter Haiku 4:6

4

my winter blanket
soothes the sorrow of my bones
i await the dawn

5

beside you i lie
there is warmth this winter night
cherry blossoms sleep

6

crystal morning light
snow and infinite green pines
egret wings take flight

D. G. Vachal © 2024

“End of Autumn”

Igor BurdinMottled colors flutter
like butterflies,
await
the pristine white
canopies —

Wind-parched leaves
mantle the oak-brown
soil with topaz and jasper
above the dormant seeds
of wilted wildflowers —

Hearken to horse-hoof
raindrops,
the muffled fracture
of petioles letting go
at the eleventh hour

when all the coins of time
are spent
and the egrets of winter
alight
upon the emerald cedar
branches.

D. G. Vachal © 2015

Photo credit: Igor Burdin