When you think about it, it’s amazing how sunshine, or the lack thereof, affects our mood and sense of well being. Given all that is happening in the world and with our economy, the short days and overcast skies (for those not blessed with living in a place like Southern California) that come with this time of the year seem like insult added to injury. All of us are influenced by how much light we receive in our lives, but some more so than others. Hence, the following poem:

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Why not something less clinical.

like the sunset blues?

or perhaps, rather, winter’s spell?

Till autumn recalls April, dues

are paid in sunshine,

a loss that lights the shortened fuse,

turning kin into things unkind,

thoughts to puddled mud.

Watch a grandfather clock unwind

until one’s sense of bad and good

looms inconsistent

as his or her shifting mood,

where nothing makes an impression,

huddled under cover,

but this dissembling depression

over the life of friend and lover,

waiting for the swell

of spring, when hell freezes over.

John Pidgeon