Winter North Beauty

these roads
I love these roads
over so many years

different views
of Lake Michigan

houses and barns
with one wreath
a few lights

fields at rest
and dairy farms

family restaurants
with good food
and service

home

love for you
became her care
until she joined you there
grief gives way to fields and wind
and now I hear your voice again

Written for my father years ago, and published in Bell’s Letters. I still remember driving home and being given this poem.

There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casteth out fear…
We love him, because he first loved us.

I John 4: 18a and 19 (KJV)

Ellen Grace Olinger

Kiwanis Park
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
August 22, 2018
Photos by Karl