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A Walk in Solitude

I strolled a path in solitude
As snow and frosty winds renewed.
The night was giving way to light
When I beheld a startling sight:
There was a figure up ahead
Whose twisted shape invited dread.

Its form was cloaked in falling snow,
Which by that time began to slow,
But not enough to clear the view,
So I then called a name I knew.
Perhaps the figure knew me too,
Yet only fear within me grew.

So who was here with me today?
And who had crossed my path this day?
I paused right there to look around
And search for steps upon the ground.
The snow remained devoid of prints;
I roved my eyes for other hints.

With squinting eyes, I braved a gaze
And uttered words infused with praise.
I slowly walked toward the sprite
As sunlight chased away the night.
I was relieved to clearly see
That what I’d feared was just a tree.

.

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Angel L. Villanueva is a poet and a USPS mail carrier residing in Massachusetts.

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10 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Nice suspense beautifully presented with well-chosen words and a flowing rhythm. Enjoyable to read, as are all those you gift us.

    Reply
  2. Paul A. Freeman

    There’s a potted plastic palm on the stairs to my apartment and several times when I’ve come home after dark, it’s given me a start.

    A very atmospheric piece, the tension well ramped up, Angel.

    Reply
  4. Scharlie Meeuws

    With each new stanza the suspense grew. I could not wait who you would meet in the end… an angel? A ghost?
    with the last line-the solution.
    Just a tree…your poem is a big crescendo that in the end fades away and stops altogether. A tree.
    But I just love trees, any tree, and am grateful it was not the bogeyman but a beautiful tree. So really, I am very happy with the end.

    Reply
  5. Cynthia L Erlandson

    I enjoyed this poem. Good foreshadowing with the phrase “twisted shape” in the first verse.

    Reply
  6. Adam Sedia

    Interesting: you build suspense with the meter and couplets only to lead to an anticlimax.

    Reply
  8. Shamik Banerjee

    A lovely poem, Angel, and oh, the ending; totally got me. Thank you for sharing your magic! God bless.

    Reply
  9. Patricia Redfern

    What a moving poem, done so finelt, and with perfect verbiage! Not as simple as it seems.. some of the most famous piets like Frost create exquisite poetry,create exqiisite poetry! You are one of them!

    Reply
  10. Margaret Coats

    An anticlimax, perhaps, Angel, but also a self-realization that imagination of itself has few boundaries. The scene, though, with its specific time and light and atmosphere and movement, naturally creates the mysterious and uncertain situation. The poet takes a roving ramble reminiscent of Poe.

    Reply

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