Lines For Winter by Mark Strand

Tell yourself
as it gets cold and gray falls from the air
that you will go on
walking, hearing
the same tune no matter where
you find yourself --
inside the dome of dark
or under the cracking white
of the moon's gaze in a valley of snow.
Tonight as it gets cold
tell yourself
what you know which is nothing
but the tune your bones play
as you keep going. And you will be able
for once to lie down under the small fire
of winter stars.
And if it happens that you cannot
go on or turn back and you find yourself
where you will be at the end,
tell yourself
in that final flowing of cold through your limbs
that you love what you are.

 

This inspirational poem is almost giving advice to the audience. When in a depression, or perhaps near death, both symbolized by the snowy walk the speaker is taking, one must not forget who they are and why they are important. In times of fear and pain, we tend to lose our sense of being and worth, and wonder why we bother living. Within "Lines of Winter" Strand explains the "tune your bones play", or rather memories of your happy memories and memories that have made you what you are today. Strand uses imagery in a few special spots, the "cracking white of the moons gaze" paints a vivid picture. It almost makes death or depression not as scary, by relating it to an object we all find comforting.