If he could sleep, she thought, sleep through the unhappy months, the heart's hunger, the months of death and cold and not having what you most want, and wake with time gone past and blurred and a new year coming. But perhaps it is too early in the year, she thought after that, and besides, he is not a bear.

~ Naomi Mitchison

Naomi Mitchison Grief Hibernation

the comfort of reclusion, the poetry of hibernation

~ Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust Alone Hibernation Introversion Reclusion

Snake's LullabyBrother, sister, flick your tongueand taste the flakes of autumn sun.Use these last few hours of goldto travel, travel toward the cold.Before your coils grow stiff and dull,your heartbeat slows to winter's lull,seek the sink of sheltered stonesthat safely cradle sleeping bones.Brother, sister, find the waysback to the deep and tranquil bays,and 'round each other twist and foldto weave a heavy cloak of cold.

~ Joyce Sidman

Joyce Sidman Hibernation Nature Poetry Snakes Winter