Reflections On Deep Ice

Black-ice sheers,
it cuts deep into paved-ways and lots.
Night snorts a frigid fog,
the caked and idling cars
only sludge a gripping freeze.

This glacial dark fangs wrists and hearts.
Grit nips at tender cheeks and tongues.
The lights of bistros cannot withstand
their desolate backyards.
A scree of black curb can be crossed,
only if the heavily shod
mash and smash through.

Are we in the end days or
in an age of small uncertain fears
that cannot now truly thaw?

We slip along
uncover small pockets of glee
in these long frozen hours
where exhausted minds sleep
and walk.

Death is upended,
lungs mask against a stabbing air,
small ice sculptures appear
in snowy humps and heaps
as if this time will always be congealed,
nailed like this to scraps of eternity.

Later, these days,
with all there residue of lost souls
will be swept way
from the crusted edge
of mall steps and clogged paths.

Then it will be a different time,
a forgotten time, one only recalled
as a mist behind wintry eyes

as we, all unmuffled now,
glance backwards into yet another
uncertain future.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2022

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