Sullen Victory--By Ruth C. Rehberg--United States

Sullen Victory

These cold days press down

on me, on you;

relentless, endless, seeming

to have over-taken the world…

depleting it of sunlight,

scouring it with dull, rotting cold,

holding us down with iced- over

handcuffs, brandishing sullen

victory about our quiet

human tabernacles.

Yet, one day, the release will come…

By seeded faith that sprouts  

in a dark soul

and will not be put to death;

that incubates a small light that

has never gone out, not since Eden.

Hope flourishes finally,

when the harsh pangs

of brittle winter and small steps

of wobbling spring begins to clash.

Ruth C. Rehberg lives with her family in the hills of western Wisconsin, daily reveling in the bounty of beauty around her Garden Valley home. Some of her happiest moments involve walking the roads and woods, scooting on her petunia-pink moped, porch-sitting every minute possible, breathing in the joy of the twilight-golden hour, and reading until her eyes can’t stay open. Gratitude to God for the beauty of the earth is her life’s work.