Helena's Poetry Compositions

The Winter (It's cold tonight)

It’s cold tonight.
And so am I.
I'm cold tonight and the moon is bright,
I wish I was sitting by a fire and have its’ light;
A warm kind of light, not like the moon’s raw arctic freezing fluorescent light.
And I wish I was warm like the mug of hot chocolate I wish I was holding but I'm not.
And I wish I was holding a TV remote in the palm of my hand but I'm not.
I only have myself to keep me awake on cold nights like these.

I wonder what it would be like;
To sleep like a bear all winter but I can’t;
Because I'm not a bear.

I wonder what it would be like;
To be a fish and not have to breathe for a while but I’ll keep wondering;
Because I’m not a fish.

And the air is cold tonight;
It stings my nose and it makes me sneeze.
I’m sneezing like a curious fox that’s just stuck its’ nose into the back of a hedgehog while burrowing into its den, wondering what was inside.
Being too curious for its own good.

It’s cold tonight.

-Helena Niu

I was inspired to write this poem on a cold night, hence the general theme. While I enjoyed the comfort of ducted heating, I started wondering about people who don't have the luxurious life we lead. People who don't have heating, or a fireplace, or hot chocolate or television. People who can't afford the luxuries of these everyday things we take for granted. When I mention about wanting to be like animals in the carefree and stress free way they live their lives, you can’t help but wonder; what would it be like, to be like a bear and sleep all winter, instead of being in the hectic mess we all find ourselves in sometime or another?

In the first verse, I am inspecting my dismal surroundings, and seeing what everyone has, everyone except for me of course. I’m stuck out here under the moon’s raw arctic freezing fluorescent light while others are with their families inside, in the warmth and cheerful atmosphere. Nobody is taking any notice of me, even though I’m right here.
My thoughts wander off, as I try to keep myself awake. I’ve boarded a train of thought, and it’s going nowhere in particular. I start to wonder; what would it be like to not have to care? What would it be like to be able to curl up somewhere and just sleep for a while?
I’m abruptly kicked off my train of thought by the stinging of cold air in my nostrils. I tell myself that there isn’t any point in hoping or dreaming of being something or someone else, because I’m me. I have ended up exactly where I started: It’s cold tonight.
My poem is composed in free verse, but some of the lines do rhyme. I have used an anapestic form of meter in the 6th and 7th lines of the first stanza, and iambic tetrameter in the first lines of the 2nd and 3rd stanzas. I have utilized repetition in the first and last lines of the poem, the first lines of the 2nd and 3rd stanzas, the last few words of the 6th and 7th lines of the 1st stanza, and also the words ‘cold tonight’. I have added in a touch of alliteration with the words ‘freezing fluorescent’ sitting together, and imagery, in the form of a bear in slumber all winter, or a fish not breathing.

Hope.
Hope is pure white,
It tastes like freshly baked butter cookies.
Hope smells like a baby,
It looks like an unfurling silk ribbon.
It sounds like the flapping of wings.
Hope feels like a wave of relief.

-Helena Niu