“…after the final frost lifts”

Hayley Burgess of Sarah Lawrence College offers a lesson of endurance in her poem “Birth”:

Birth
Hayley Burgess

after the Winter turns into a deeper
Winter, when I learn the coldest I have
ever been was only the beginning of cold,
after a lone goose shrieks over the frosted
trees, his body blushed pink by the morning
sun, after the cardinals shoot cherry across
the sky and the gulp of barn swallows dive
toward the pond, their wings lit up like tiny
disco balls, after I make a list of reasons
I will stay and slip it under the heel of my
left foot, like an itch or an oath, after I stop
waiting for the thaw, after the thaw comes
and then goes, after the final frost lifts, after
my body starts humming for Spring, there
is a moment, when I am finally someone’s
daughter.

Hayley’s poetry earned an Honorable Mention in the 2025 Deep Wild Student Writing Contest. Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry is the home for creative work inspired by journeys to places where there are no roads. To learn more, or to order a copy, visit deepwildjournal.com

One thought

Reading Hayley Burgess’s poem “Birth” truly moved me—it felt like stepping into a deep, quiet moment of nature’s own rhythm, much like the powerful stillness I experienced on the Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal. While trekking and resting in a cozy mountain lodge after a long day on the trails, I often found myself wrapped in that same sense of waiting and endurance—the biting cold outside, the hope for warmer days ahead, and the quiet hum of life slowly returning.

The way she describes enduring the coldest winters, waiting for the thaw, and finally feeling that delicate moment of belonging reminded me so much of those chilly mornings in the Himalayas, when the world seems frozen but life quietly pulses beneath. That feeling of “finally someone’s daughter” perfectly captures the deep connection I felt to the mountains, to the land, and to myself in that remote Nepalese wilderness.

Hayley’s words carry such warmth and raw truth, echoing the journey of every adventurer who steps into the wild, seeking not just a destination but a profound rebirth. This poem is a gift, reminding us all of nature’s lessons in endurance and renewal—lessons I lived firsthand on those unforgettable trails in Nepal.

https://www.himalayaheart.com/trip/short-everest-base-camp-trek

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himalayaheart says:

July 24, 2025 at 12:38 am

Reading Hayley Burgess’s poem “Birth” truly moved me—it felt like stepping into a deep, quiet moment of nature’s own rhythm, much like the powerful stillness I experienced on the Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal. While trekking and resting in a cozy mountain lodge after a long day on the trails, I often found myself wrapped in that same sense of waiting and endurance—the biting cold outside, the hope for warmer days ahead, and the quiet hum of life slowly returning.

The way she describes enduring the coldest winters, waiting for the thaw, and finally feeling that delicate moment of belonging reminded me so much of those chilly mornings in the Himalayas, when the world seems frozen but life quietly pulses beneath. That feeling of “finally someone’s daughter” perfectly captures the deep connection I felt to the mountains, to the land, and to myself in that remote Nepalese wilderness.

Hayley’s words carry such warmth and raw truth, echoing the journey of every adventurer who steps into the wild, seeking not just a destination but a profound rebirth. This poem is a gift, reminding us all of nature’s lessons in endurance and renewal—lessons I lived firsthand on those unforgettable trails in Nepal.

https://www.himalayaheart.com/trip/short-everest-base-camp-trek

LikeLike