The freeze has been clinging to your heart
all year
it is not sniffling sadness
like the one that visits you upon a loved one’s demise
which you can weep and get over with;
What it is is something heavy and brutish
and pale
and unmistakable.
It makes you sleep longer
with sheets snaking up your body
as you embrace the soft touch of cotton
lovingly like arms of an old lover
their face and lips, and there is nothing outside of that.
In a careless moment
when you laugh at something so small
as a cat crossing the street
it makes your laughter conscious
and you are careful
not to suddenly awaken the grief
ensconced in your heart
dozing like a baby
else you would start crying
along with it,
and you don’t, don’t want that.
The passage of time
should help
you hope
but time passes gradually
and a day is still a day
all the hours and all the minutes and all the seconds
say ‘tick-tock’ to you.
did you make hay while the sun shined?
You didn’t!
And now look you can spot white strands of hair in the mirror.
Enough then.
The freeze must thaw
Stop the illusions and dreaming
— people, play, parts
in the humming whistling chugging train of life
What dreadful sense and nonsense
has filled your head?
The freeze must thaw
you have your little heart
and a lot of mind too
and shake it off what has ailed them both.
The freeze must thaw now
and you must laugh madly
The freeze must thaw
and you must dance dangerously
as though you could be swept off your feet at any moment
and fall
The freeze must thaw
and among strangers
you must dance alone as happy fool.