ICE MAIDENS

I like the dark nights
I like winter and her cruel bite
The way the trees shiver
Spindly limbs stripped back,
Bare
Raised up, beseeching...of the
pink gold air, as if
A mercy
Might at all be there

I like the moon in her black
dress
Elusive and frozen, unsmiling
Untouched
Yet, so pregnant with malice
Icy cold in her lust, to
Reign over barren
An earth frozen in gloom
Yet, strangely sparkling and
Secret
Tending life in her womb

I like the crunch of a dead leaf
Dead flowers on a dead wreath
This... strange air of
doom, this
Most bitter stark room
Where the ice maidens shine
Piled up high on the tomb
Of summer...

M P  28/3/21