In a time prior to winter
She would court men of nobility
Rather than those of fleeting notoriety
Preferring virtue … to vitriol

And despite her indiscretions with exclusion
     as a lapse of the heart
She would still remain willing to learn

Yet those who took possession of her
By way of mere inheritance
Would rewrite her past
To suit their present

But I had once clutched her hand
And held her close
For I once knew a country
In a time prior … to winter.

- Joseph -