Beatitudes of January – a poem by Fredric Hildebrand

Beatitudes of January

Blessed is the staying in bed cold winter darkness.
Blessed is the booming and breaking river ice.
Blessed is the speeding street scraping snow plow.
Blessed is the punctual growl of the newspaper man’s broken muffler.
Blessed is the dutiful bark of the neighbor’s dog.
Blessed is the biting and whistling north wind.
Blessed is the scurrying roof squirrel.
Blessed is her soft and heavenly breathing.

Fredric Hildebrand is a retired physician living in Neenah, WI. His poetry has appeared in Art Ascent, Bramble, Millwork, Tigershark, and Verse-Virtual. He received the Mill Prize for Poetry Honorable Mention Award in both 2017 and 2018. When not writing or reading, he plays acoustic folk guitar and explores the Northwoods with his wife and two Labrador retrievers.