Memory

In the early morning,

I awoke in a tomb of snow.

The blizzard had come

and trapped me inside

my own grave.

Winter whispers,

and I hear its voice

beckon to me.

Tell me the secrets

of ice and snow.

Something niggled at me.

My memory--my lack thereof--

bothered me.

I tried to remember,

but all I knew was

the absolute whiteout from

the night before.

 

I had come here

to the North for some reason.

I had come here

because of some great emotion.

I did not know,

and the concept of emotion

was distant and foreign.

I had always been

like this. I was sure.

Winter comes and tells me

my eternal duty to perform.

To cast ice and snow, it says,

all throughout the land.

To make meltable beauties

and frost art for the world

to love and to admire.

Such a gift was mine?

Aye, Winter says. All yours.

 

I was empty then,

but I was full of purpose.

I have tried to remember

my past before Winter

came to own me.

I have failed at each attempt.

I do not feel sad

or bitter for the memory

I have lost.

My happiness does not exist.

It is the frost on

the window glass, delicately

layered and gathered like lace

on a fine dress.

It is the design of

each individual snowflake,

which I create as painstakingly

as God makes His children.

It is the cries of glee

that rise from the

throats of children upon

discovering a sudden snow day.

Their voices lift on the wind,

sweet and clear as a lark’s melody.

 

That mystery of memory

has left me empty and

wanting to know why I left.

But I would not--could not--

fathom the reason if I could.

When Winter took me,

it imparted upon me

a frozen heart, doomed

never to feel as once I had

in a previous life.

I can only know

the duty of serving Winter

and creating for it.

Author's Note

Another continuation of the Snow Queen I have envisioned.

Reviews

[Ruth]

Powerful! Winter seems to be the fire of a Poet's heart and not summer, ironically enough....it does suffocate, close us in and this is superbly poignant here...encased in winter, gave chills and darkness and lead me to wonder what is reborn from that...brilliant xo

[E.V. Black]

Thank you! I was having quite the obsession with winter last year. :D