The Exodus of January by Tammy C. Smith, 20 January 2019

"The Exodus of January"

by Tammy C. Smith

20 January 2019

The dreary days of January

drag

like the forty years in the

desert

when the Israelite's saw no

end.

Thirty-one days the winter

month

confines us inside insulated

walls

surviving by eating days old

manna.

But as Moses promised God’s

people

a light to lead them out of the

darkness,

we sit before our TV sets

awaiting

prophecies of sunshine from

forecasters.

To find joy in the gray of

January

is like finding the Arc of the

Covenant

from the calendar start

life

tastes as blandly as unleavened

bread.

So slow and thick January snow

falls

in inconvenient heaps as if

maggots

mounting on leftovers

clogging

streets and parking lots. 

Until the pressure builds from 

sub-zero 

cold, and potholes part like the 

Red Sea

testing patience on commutes as

snowplows

shovel salt, flakes of frost, on the

earth.

As undead, we face January’s

contagions.

Soot from forced air furnaces

release

dust mites, the plague of

gnats.

The perfect storm of allergens,

January

leaves no unbelievers untouched

biting

cold and hardened hearts to let

go.