Unlocking Time
Winter locked my mind in place
As though I were under house arrest.
My thoughts, imprisoned, became dreams-
Not nightmares, always, but dark enough
To leave a trace of fear.
This morning there’s a change, as though
My sentence has been served, and I can go
Not wholly free, but less constrained.
The door’s unlocked. I open it,
And walk out into spring.
– late March, 2021, New Hampshire