Grey skies hanging low over a winter landscape.
Snow-softened outlines blending together the works of nature and man.
A lone rider passes, slipping through the swirling snow-spots.
A silent progression through the chill gray dawn of a winter driven
storm.
A passage unnoted by all save one set of small bright eyes,
Framed in a frosted
window
and
filled with the wonder of the vision beheld.
The ghost rider is gone but the image lingers on.
The seed of desire thus planted is left to ripen through the seasons.
Winters pass, white fields giving way to green and back again.
All the while the yearning planted in the past matures in the young
soul.
A new winter arrives and with it a new rider emerges;
The same bright
eyes
now
filled with the wonder of the first winter's ride.
Following the path set down long before by the passing stranger,
The young rider passes out of sight around the bend.
Embarking on a quest to seek that which eludes,
He is driven by the wild winter wind and an image from his youth.
Thus, as it is with the endless rhythm of the seasons,
Rider follows
Rider,
And
another sower of seeds takes to the road and is gone.
(c) Jeffry L'H. Tank 2005
www.yearroundriders.com