Two Icy Islands

Two Icy Islands Cracks appear in the ice Become wider but we don’t cross We each urge the other to jump To join the other on their slab of ice I motion to you, you motion to me Neither jump. Our agonised faces Watch as the gap widens until It’s impossible to leap, to bridge. Set adrift, you go your way I go mine, further and further away There’s a million miles between Your sofa and mine, my block Of ice and your block of ice The artic wind wraps around Us like a shield deflecting compromise And we drift for what seems like days Sour faces, argument lost, even Though we were both right. Both Just. I’m so stubborn, so is she. The water warms and our icy islands Melt. We have no choice but to Meet in the sea and we cling Me to you and you to me. A tropical breeze warms the room And it becomes a sauna, Instead of a tomb. David Cox 11/06/23