The Essence of a Winter’s Day

Flowers close their petals
And droop their lonely heads
Weighed down with the rain
The garden becomes shadowed
By a sky painted in grey.
Brown sodden leaves are stamped into
The steeped soil between the gravel stones.
But water droplets balancing on leaves
Glisten like glitter
In the single ray of sunlight
Peeking through the clouds.
Yellow wattle flowers glow like magic
Against the booming beginnings of a storm.
Rain patterns the pavement
And turns the bricks a rich, deep red.
Dappled reflections of the garden
Create new worlds inside the puddles.
Faded shadows decorate the house walls.
Wet footprints keep the memories of moments
Alive for just a few seconds as they fade,
And if you look the opposite way
When the sunlight catches the raindrops
They almost look like stars that explode
Into an arch of colours across the sky.
Even in the cold
And with the sky clouded with gloomy grey,
I can still find beauty
In just the essence of a winter’s day.