Photo @matt_j

ILL WIND

Harmattan Föhn

Santa Ana Sirocco

Local names for visitors

Old friends who howl

Beat doors and windows

Accrete and scour

Earth and rock

Ignore them at your peril

Distrust those who do

Work around them

Watch what they

Bring and take

For that short time

When they rule and smother

We are small and ineffective

We let time pass

Pretend it does not

While we wait

For the change

Brought and delivered

From afar or on high

That first relenting day

The earth laid bare

Grass and crop flat

Snow eaten as if by beast

Animals scattered timid

Memory raw amazed

Remember the time

What and what

Life slowly mends

And moves on

The change was good

Time spent with others

A warm fire perhaps

Thanks for having prepared

A commonality of man

A reminder of something

Deep inside