First Frost

I wrote this one sitting in a statistics lecture last week, and I must have been in a right old strop that day. Not the most subtle metaphor I've ever employed.

First frost

The First Frost always comes unexpectedly-
It is always anticipated, but never expected.
It invariably finds us unprepared.

We notice an extra chill in the air
But dismiss it, ignore it,
It may never happen.

The growing cold hints at the shock to come,
It offers to help us prepare, but denial
Is curiously pervasive.

The First Frost is the beginning of the end.

The end of living and the beginning of surviving,
Ancient priorities reassert themselves,
Falling further from angel, to beast.

We light candles and growl at the shadows,
Gather together to fight the darkness within,
And endure for a time.

The First Frost always comes unexpectedly;
The First Frost always comes.

From here it will only get worse;