Fire-bright faces in winter night
   a dog in the distance barks
   the sky speaks in patterns of starlight
   the fire replies in sparks
  
   the stream is a motionless moment
   salmon in the sea swims deep
   pregnant with force as a prayer is
   spring in the hard earth sleeps
  
   like the snow on the stark spruce limb
   coated with ice, then stripped by wind
   we melt away and return again
   stronger for the tempering flame
   stronger for the Saviour's name.