Frostbite

I burst through the door

Into the frigid unknown.

Fire feasts on the building behind me...

I cannot return.

//

The brightest white blankets the ground,

And I am blinded

While angels brush

The dandruff from their hair.

//

I am naked, skin exposed,

And I have no choice

But to proceed through

The thick, freezing

Clouds confined to ground.

//

I was promised purity

Where there are no stains…

But I shatter the stillness,

And now my footprints

Ruin the wholeness of the holiness

Covering the dirt below

In colorless clothes

That my intrusion rips holes through.

//

I sink lower the more I struggle.

Layers of winter’s powder

Collapse under my weight,

And I hear the insides of the earth

Growl in hunger…

I may be Its next meal.

Her appetite is endless;

We all end up consumed.

//

But I am exhausted,

Forced to stop and accept

The outfit of icy pins and needles

Constricting me breathless

Like a corset I cannot untie.

//

But as I pause, you land on me.

Snowflakes that somehow

Be it chance or perhaps fate

(Does it matter in the end?)

Find their way to these places

On my arms, my hair, my cheeks...

//

And sometimes, I see you

And others, I can only feel.

But when I get a glimpse,

The intricacy of your existence

Makes inhaling forgettable…

Transfixed by the miracles

That gravity has gifted me.

//

I have no camera,

No pencils or brushes

To capture or mimic

Your unique design,

So I stare and attempt

To memorize the details…

But there are too many,

And in moments,

You have disappeared.

//

But you are not gone.

You are transformed.

Silently seeping through my pores,

Absorbed into my body

Joining the structure of my form

And becoming a part of me.

//

But even this is temporary.

Maybe you will escape

Through sweat released

While I make love,

Or leap from my eyes

And become the rain made of my tears.

//

Either way, you will leave.

But not without forging your way

Inside me first

Before exiting to begin your next

Metamorphosis.

//

And suddenly, I can move again.

The snow resists, but I will keep going.

//

And if you’d like to kiss me more,

I’ll wait for you.

Caress me in your crystal cold…

I don’t mind.

//

If you must bite me with frost,

Use all your teeth

Dig in deeply,

And give me a scar

To remember you by.