denature into a repose of distain as one of many unremarkable evenings carries this wheeling’s first frost between her silvery teeth.she lays it at the foot of our dark city towers_as a ritual offering may be laid to rot in reverence//with bowed murmurs of unknown origin.she  glowers back behindopen-mawed retreat      and sinks furtherfrom our  thoughts  .man, knowing only to shiver      and not     when to      beg