Angels in Snow

© Karyn Ellis

Your skin on my skin, your icy hands traveled up
Underneath my sweater.
And I shook as I let you in.
The air was freezing, I was scared of the heat.

Seeds lie under blanket of snow.
They make it through the winter on potential.
And I don’t want to get burned
By coming out of hibernation too soon.

Words dangle from my lips like icicles, icicles.
I say to myself: Girl, don’t be a fool.
Will you lay it all out on a cold winter night?
Angels in snow.

Your smile all crooked and teeth.
I breathe in sharply as your lips and my shoulder meet.
Inside, sounding deep in my bones
It’s early spring thaw cracking lake Ontario.

And I remember that day I was standing
In my snowsuit–face pressed up to the brilliant sky.
On great lakes, my cheeks burning with wind.
I was dizzy with the brightness–I was scared I might fall in.

Words dangle from my lips in metaphors.
I say to myself: Girl, you’ve been here before.
Will you lay it all out on a cold winter night?
Angels in snow.

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