I’d like to watch the snow fall
Alighting gently on my navy pea coat
It falls, too, to the gray ground
In blankets dusting the sidewalks

I’m happiest when I am alone
Throwing ice balls at unmoving oak targets
Bulls eye for some, misses for others
I silently embrace the rain’s refrigerated remains

To the zoo I went
And then to the ice skating rink
All those circling and dancing on the stilled water
A summer’s boiling point underneath

The sailboat pond sat windless reflecting
The city’s bridge and towers
Framed barren between winter’s frozen branches
Alone, too, vulnerable to this deadened time

Words go unnoticed, laying flat in mid-air
A serious approach, reproached by most
The gallery flat without form or expression
A single red rose delivered to my peer
An acknowledgement that loudness and brashness
Can keep you on the island most every time

You turned your back to me, more than once
And the others were carried through and awakened from
Late mid-morning sleep
And I walked in place alone, at my own pace
Lighting a candle at St. Patrick’s Cathedral