I ran through the dark
I ran through the winter snow
The dawn will break soon
snow
the first snow for twenty six years
unstepped snow on beach
summer shade trees bone fingers
we walk down alone
Night, waiting
pale moon, stars, chalk clouds
snow on the distant mountains
night waiting, or night, waiting
One more step
The cold is biting. The wind has teeth.
Deep in throats there is howl.
The crack of a tree that snaps in the closeness.
Snow sharp ice on bare-skin faces.
One more step, one more.
One, one more.
One more.
Please.
One more.
Please.
Postcard from Edinburgh, March
Soon the sleeping elephant will shake the snow from its head
Soon the sun breaks through
Soon Spring
Soon
Snow
The sky holds ice
The sky holds ice. Baby blue slides to old-man silver grey. Air is edged and sharp. Skin is cold as burnt touching water; heart pain for those who have suffered. Close the door when the last stranger has entered; never, never, when one remains outside.
Electric tea
Kraków. Snow. The Christmas market lights twinkled. A warming glass or two of electric tea. The lights spun and disappeared.
Sleeping with the windows open (Biography Part 1)
Bobby was the kind of boy who slept with the windows open, come hail or ice or snow. On holidays abroad he slept in the wine cellar. His parents took him to see doctors but they could find no fever; he just functioned better in the cold. When he was a teenager he worried about global warming but in Scotland that only seemed to mean more rain and snow. His family and friends thought he would become an Arctic explorer or an ice cream seller; some even had a sweepstake on the job he – or his temperature – would choose. But in the end the universe showed it had a sense of humour. From the day he picked up his first guitar, it was clear – he would be in a band, the coolest band in town.
The middle ‘s’
The snow had brought down the middle ‘s’ from the sweetshop sign but the old folks didn’t care. They’d buy their soft toffees and dance.
I could see Fife then
I could see Fife then
I couldn’t but
I could see the Forth then
I couldn’t but
I could see outside the window then
I couldn’t then
the snow