New Year’s Campout

The reassuring echoes
of an owl on the hunt
reverberate
across the river,
as night spreads her cloak over the world.

The North wind
blowing through the limbs of
winter dead trees
weeps,
warns
those daring to celebrate
the birth of a New Year,
while camped
on the banks of rime encrusted waters
that the gathering clouds promise
blizzard deep snows.

Ignoring
the wind’s dire predictions
moonbeams dance
across the water
and lanterns illuminate the darkness
as revelers
sing their merry songs.

Line count: 23
Form: Free verse is a rhymed or unrhymed poem of any length with no specific rhyme scheme or line meter and can have any subject or theme.