Winter

We abstained from sleep in summer,
held each other like two halves of a poem,
hurled rocks into Lake Michigan like expletives.

In fall, dusk arrived with a shock of birds.
The lake reflected the dying light,
photographing it with perfect calm.

-

In winter, the hours flew in the direction of warmer places.
The lake, glazed over, like indifferent eyes.

-

You open the door.
You confront a line of trees.
They have been shorn
of all pretenses. Starved; heroic.
Listen;
winter is circling over you, calling and calling.
Alighting in your arms, shivering and wet,
It asks to be nursed, then falls asleep.