Away

The snow about me
stuttered by the boughs
of conifer giants
drifts in halting clumps
to my shoulders
inclined toward you
as is my heart
in warm vital relief
to the frozen earth
that meets my feet
my breath in frosted billows
white and frigid
about my face
and hard in icy winter’s
rigid wind and hands
now melting before
your smile reveals
your soft tongue
and smooth white teeth
and the words
upon and behind them
like icicles dissolving
in a glass I hold
formless in the water
invisible but to us.