The days are shrinking again,
and the sun slips away
before I’m ready.

Winter always arrives
like a hush,
cool hands on my shoulders,
a soft reminder
to slow my steps,
to slip into the quiet
I’ve been avoiding.

I light a candle,
wrap myself in blankets,
watch the frost lace the windows,
and something in me settles.

There’s a peace in this season
a peace I never used to understand
a permission
to rest without guilt,
to move slower,
to let the world dim
without disappearing with it.

And even on the hard days,
the tired days,
the “I’m trying” days,
winter still finds me
exactly where i am,
holds out a small light,
and says,
“you don’t have to bloom right now.
just breathe.”

peaceofmind.y