Exposure

This condition of cold living, a sacrifice of self;
Winter a drug, lapsed in the light -

Would better to be Fairbanks in summer.

But I venture out, heel kick the ice ponds and bitter
cold shake myself to keep from freezing;

to thaw in grace, seek me out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
the unbearable lightness of being, Milan Kundera
'When we want to give expression to a dramatic situation in our lives, we tend to use metaphors of heaviness. We say that something has become a great burden to us. We either bear the burden or fail and go down with it, we struggle with it, win or lose.'

'The heaviest of burdens is simultaneously an image of life's most intense fullfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become. Conversely, the absolute absence of a burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into new heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant. What then shall we choose? Weight or lightness?'