I thought up this melody while walking our dog, Dolly, in Hazeldean Woods behind our house. It was one of those mild days after a big snowfall, when it's foggy and damp and it stays light all night. I just kept singing it until we got home and I could record it. I wrote the lyrics about these same woods. Fox (or as we like to call them, foxen) live here, and owls, and woodpeckers, and nuthatches, and porcupines, and squirrels, and chipmunks, and the crows often gather for noisy crow parties. These woods make my life immeasurably happier.
Winter
Winter
Amid the trees
Deep in the forest
Snow on the breeze
Grey bark and white sky
Deep evergreen
Roots sending stories
Stark, still and clean
High up
A rush of wings
The silent huntress
Queen of all things
Alights nearby
To start anew
Waiting and watching
Tunnels ‘neath the snow
Gloaming
Rust-coloured tail
Keen eyes of yellow
Linger on the trail
Slips into darkness
Sighs into night
Connects my spirit
With the wild, the light
Ottawa, 2019