She came to our doorstep
one blustery, snow-swept afternoon
looking for a playmate
I didn't think twice
plus laptop-addled Mother
had mmm-hmm’d her assent
I donned my coat
and headed out, heedless
into the billowing gale
Bootprints danced through drifts,
mischievous little snow devils
leading me to the pond's frozen edge
Where she stood
waiting, alone
out on the ice
I filled my lungs to scream
a warning, but cruel, frost-filled
gusts seared my throat and
I managed only a raspy, gaspy
cough as clutching at my neck
I fell back onto the bank
Just then the maelstrom broke
and in that newfound crisp-clear
air I saw
A withered, wretched, frozen hand
grasping up through the ice
where she’d been standing
Its fingers curled and
beckoned me: come and play
down beneath the glossy sheen
Comments