Tonight was quiet and cold

Like the first time

My mom and I got in a fight

And I sprinted out the door

Like a startled deer

Into the woods.

I crashed my way through the brush

Through thickets and slick mud

My ill-equpped, sneaker-enveloped feet

The only noise to be heard

Aside from my heaving.

I was not a natural soul.

I did not belong

With the branches and leaves.

If any life was there with me

It was startled away by my alien clamour.

I came home after dark

With raw, red knuckles

And a frigid pallor.

She did not wait up for me.

I was cold and quiet

Just like tonight.

And so was the storm

That washed away

My misplaced tracks.

And even though

Ten years have passed,

And those same trees

That watched over me

Like admiring parents

Are no longer here,

Tonight is the same

Measure of that icy solidarity.

For even though I am

Surrounded by life and lives

I am alone

In my room

Cold
And quiet.