HOW HIBERNATION WORKS

First, there's the faintest
shimmer inside
translucent rays
of gauzy moonbeams,
as this sky-hearth
of pristine encircling
warmth
sashays us
home,
where delicious images
forged in fire
slumber
and simmer
in cratered kettles.

Then, like clockwork,
tumblers and jugglers
who know
their magic,
slip into sleep,
and in quiescent rest
become fat dark bears,
snuggling in thick drifts of snow,
while the awakened mute,
skin zinged bright
in freshest air,
yelp out loud
coherent thoughts
of beast and man,
archaic,
purposeful,
and kind.