Ice and Fire – Winter 2009
The week before Christmas it came – the year’s first snow
And a biting chill which ruled the day and the night.
Surely the sun was banished and stripped of power
In the annual fight which is waged between fire and ice.
Yet the sun broke through when at noon the sky was clear;
Then the delicate crystals melted and clothed the trees
With living water, suffused by the fierce sun’s rays
And flashing with colour and movement like liquid light.
A brief, bright marriage it was between ice and fire
Which filled our hearts with joy on the shortest day.
And I thought of our ancestors, dreading the death of the sun
And the joy they felt when the annual battle was won.
Sheila Durbin
Sheila Durbin’s book of collected poems, ‘Catching the Light’, is now available, price £3.50, from LivingStones Bookshop in Fleet Road, Fleet, or by contacting John Gibbons on 01252 614200.