Upon a Frozen Star

Oh, was it in this dark-Decembered world

we walked among the moonbeam-shadowed fields

and did not know ourselves for weight of snow

upon our laden parkas? White as sheets,

as spectral-white as ghosts, with clawlike hands

thrust deep into our pockets, holding what

we thought were tickets home: what did we know

of anything that night? Were we deceived

by moonlight making shadows of gaunt trees

that loomed like fiends between us, by the songs

of owls like phantoms hooting: Who? Who? Who?

And if that night I looked and smiled at you

a little out of tenderness . . . or kissed

the wet salt from your lips, or took your hand,

so cold inside your parka . . . if I wished

upon a frozen star . . .  that I could give

you something of myself to keep you warm . . .

yet something still not love . . . if I embraced

the contours of your face with one stiff glove . . .

How could I know the years would strip away

the soft flesh from your face, that time would flay

your heart of consolation, that my words

would break like ice between us, till the void

of words became eternal? Oh, my love,

I never knew. I never knew at all,

that anything so vast could curl so small.

Reviews

[Eilis]

Hi, Michael. I’m not sure if you’re new to WC, but I’m only just discovering your poems. I’m excited to read what you have shared here and look forward to more visits in the future.

I like the mixed feeling of this. It’s got a semi-classical slant, but placed firmly the prosaic parka-laden 21st century. Not that now is bad, there’s just a different feel to now than to the ritual and ceremony of the past. We live by the seat of our pants now. Not always thinking.

I felt something of that here. The allegory, the uncertainty of love. The mixed feelings regarding whether the joy of loving is worth the risk of losing the fullness of that feeling.

A beautifully crafted poem. I really like the dynamic of it.

[Michael R. Burch]

Eilis, thanks for taking the time to read my poem and comment. It's the first blank verse poem I wrote, so it is at least semi-classical in terms of form and meter. I'm glad you like it, and I'll try to find some of your poems and comment in return.