It's been awhile
and I'm still treading
water in the dark
streets;
it's December

limping up Villard in the
harsh, the bitter,
the 1 o'clock freezing
hour

You say the sun sets
and the flicker always fades
that the night is
guaranteed
(and I'm no fool, I know that
ups go down and I've heard this all
before)

but in the darkened hours,
the lamplight hours,
the gloveless-countdown-to-Christmas hours
where this has started and
it's too late to
stop it
now

I'm walking next
to you
where love is not certain like
the pitch-black curtain of
nightfall,
and where I'm finally warm
for a
moment
in snow