Where I would not have gone

I would not go, where the winter winds blow,
Where the light dims weak and the ground turns cold.
I would not head to the river bank’s bed,
Where the currents grasp life and deposit the dead.
I would not run where the earth meets the sun,
Where the threads of this life shred apart and undone.
I would not have gone where the graves stood so wan,
Were hollow cheeks not set for hollow eyes withdrawn.