Winter and Miracles

By Farhan Arfeen

A cloudless night it was, one with a half moon,

The air was cold, chilling at times.

From the north came a gust of freezing, cruel wind,

Showed mercy to no being it came across.

My breath faced difficulty traversing through me,

Each time I breathed out, a drop of life also went away.

Clenching my fists inside the pockets,

I fought not to let the heat go away.

There was no soul present, no bird in the sky,

Only my loneliness gave me company.

Time to time I would stare up into nothingness,

Stare at the heaven to which I couldn't fly.

Footsteps I heard beneath, folks coming and going.

Hoping no one should arrive up here, except one.

I waited and waited, only to wait even more,

The air still cold, only a few stars scattered across.

In that silence, I was reminded of my fate,

Which toyed with me at every instance given.

Each time I walked ahead...met a dead end,

I wanted to break free, free from this fate, free from myself.

Wanted to cry but the tears froze in the cold, so had the emotions.

I looked down, a steep fall it was.

For a moment the thought crossed my mind,

The thought I had put away long ago.

In a moment, the wind picked up the pace,

My dark-brown hair danced in the gale.

A cry echoed, of a beast, of something unknown.

From the west it had come, my eyes followed.

A shadow I perceived, stretching wide across the sky.

Soon it arrived, its shriek too loud, echoing through the air and buildings,

Above I could see it, a miracle in person, a legend becoming real,

Wide extensive wings, a tail almost half its length, and a ferocious face resting

above it all.

As it passed, I was awed at its might,

The creature I had only read about,

In folklore and fantasies, across various traditions,

The one whom they called the Dragon.

I had not dared to make a sound, my breath on hold,

Hands then at my sides, the fear of cold or being alone passed away.

As I took a breath again, it was not freezing anymore.

Winter was here, but so was this miracle, which when flew away left the sky

as a sea of stars.

By Farhan Arfeen