Ekphrastic Challenge - Charlie Grimes

The hunters return fatigued,

The results of their quest as unforgiving as the landscape;

Their companions drag behind,

Frail and burdened by their own failed efforts;

The trees bare no life,

The radiant snow seeming darker by the day;

The world gives no gifts to the people,

And what is available must be used.

Yet, in the face of such frigid prospects and low hopes,

A warmth emerges.

A warmth of the spirit, seen in the frivolousness of youth,

The disregard for the uphill battle, the bonds of community;

The fires of the people rage on,

Blissfully unaware of the towering bleakness that surrounds them.

The troubles of the world are few,

And humanity digs through the snow to poke its head through.

Painting citation:

Bruegel The Elder, Pieter. Hunters In The Snow. 1565. Oil on canvas. Kunsthistorisches Museum, n.p.