Paley's Barn winter 1984

How cold and lovely is the Winter
Fire and ice, the extremes of her passions
Reign over the frigid land.
We survive, but we pay her price.

How many years have you gone past Paley’s barn?
Perhaps longer than I
Around that impossibly slow corner
With butterscotch dogs sleeping right on the edge of the road
Calves peeping out into the light
Tiptoeing out to lean on the fence in the sun.

I drove by Thursday morning
The first time since the fire two days before
And filled my lungs with scorched lives
Frozen dreams
Charred bones.

Most of us can only imagine
The heart cutting that sends men into burning barns
To wrestle lowing cattle out of chains
To lead them skittering and balking out of flames
As many as they can.

Paley’s barn was written up this week..
The years and years of those calves leaning on the sun
A picture, given to the heart, now, which is groaning,
Its face buried in the blistered hands
How the landscape changes year by year

And the heart
How does it survive?
Tell me!
What can we give to those who live
Through trial by fire
In the midst of Winter’s cold cold beauty?