Beauty's Brutality
by Michael Doyle

In the deeps of Finland's heart
The land lies in its darkness
Bathed in the Northern Light
From where whispers of hope start
Against the chilling harshness
Below winter's frosted night

Summer has been quick and fleeting
To thrive here takes endurance and courage
Worn through an impatience for infinity
Here the dreams come quietly greeting
Without a moment to spare and not to discourage
It is a moment borne in beauty's brutality

Lapland gives all of its gifts of life
A magical light is always there shining
And the gifts of the land are given freely
Somewhere beyond all of the struggle and strife
Where Santa is always busily self-refining
His reindeer play on a wooded glade of serenity

Far to the North, the sun peeks through
From overtop the forest, gazing down
Ancient myths and old legends are told
Lights dance in a star-filled sky of amazing hues
The Aurora Borealis is worn like a jeweled crown
And the Midnight Sun blazes looking down

Strange shapes and waterfalls are frozen in time
The land is always changing in its constant wonder
With everyday bringing its new sort of surprise
This land full of magic in its Northern clime
Pulling us each in and then down under
Mesmerized with each new morning's sunrise

In the bleak midwinter, temperatures fall to 50 below
And darkness veils the entirety for weeks on end
Life here is for the strong hearted pushing to survive
With the kind of grit we all could stand to know
Waiting for the warmth the sun will come to send
Here in the breathtaking beauty that keeps us all alive

A myth of fire foxes chasing across the winter snow
Is worth the weight in gold as an owl watches from the trees
Stillness brings its comfort like the simplest rule
As a golden eagle dreams of pleasure that it will never know
Tough lessons might prove fatal carried on the breeze
Out of the frozen mouths of struggle comes wisdom for fools

(c) December 8, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved