let there be welcome to the night.

the grass was ghost white with frost this morning, and the air cold enough to make my fingertips hurt. winter is almost here.

i had plans for this past summer. in fact, i had a plan, one that would have laid the foundations for my new self come spring. but summer is gone, my plan is as fruitless as an unharvested garden, unheeded and left to rot. i may still have time to lay those foundations, but it is all uncertainty. what will happen? how long can i remain in this liminal state? why didn't i do what i told myself i would do?

but i don't care today. not at all. not one bit.

today the world is fully saturated with color, every shadow another bright shade, another rich tone. my eyes are drunk on it. my breath traces my path, trails along behind me. i have too much life to be confined in my body. i can taste winter in the air, cold and clean. winter air purifies; you breathe it into your soul, not just your lungs. it comes straight from the stars and the black night, and it refuses to sit still. today, this winter wind is everywhere. it streams my hair away from my face, presses my skirts against my legs in an embrace: i'm back, my love, i'm back.

winter is near. my larder is bare, my clothes are thin, but i'm ready for the season all the same. i'm feasting, i'm full, i'm ready for the dreaming night of the year.