The Lonely Season

crystallized,

a moment frozen in time,

whispered,

so cold we cannot sleep.

dreaded,

the chill steeps the bones,

numbed,

our fingers left craving warmth.

silenced,

the trees covered in ice,

flustered,

our mother drawing us near.

fluttered,

our hearts beating double speed,

resuscitated,

because the flames doused us.

drowned,

our memories of summer slipping,

littered,

the papers left piling outside.

captured,

birds by our father's eye,

hunted,

stags in the deep forest.

dreamed,

touches of sun to skin,

remembered,

moments too brief to count.

laughed,

my brother at my hip,

smiled,

my sister on my right.

clustered,

together under our ragged blankets,

measured,

breaths in time and tune.

imagined,

days long thought gone away,

touched,

my siblings' hands to mine.

chilled,

the tips of our noses,

warmed,

our huddle in the woods.

forgotten,

the home I left behind,

melted,

our last winter as family.