Winter's Air

Bitter biting cold

Swallowed by the whipping wind

Soft snow beneath me

Gently falling flakes, dreamlike

Winter's air, both cruel and kind

I wrote this poem to encapsulate the duality of winter, how it can be both wondrous and bleak, sometimes even both at the same time. I've experienced both ends of this extreme, having both stood atop a ski slope as the snow is just beginning to fall surrounded by a crystal-clear view of the mountains extending for tens of kilometers, and camped in the snow at temperatures as low as -22C with no more that a sleeping bag, a tent, and a lot of socks. The first two lines of this poem describe winter's cruel side, the second two its magical side, and the final line sums everything up. This poem is in the form of a Tanka, a traditional Japanese poetry style which follows a strict syllable structure of 5-7-5-7-7. I've used alliteration in all five lines in order to make the poem sound more fluid when read aloud (and also as a sort of challenge for myself). This can be seen, in line order, with: Bitter, biting; Whipping wind; Soft snow; Falling flakes; and Cruel and Kind.