How can the cities ever thaw
When all we have are our eyes,
Greedy for a smile and emaciated by the winter wonderland
And deadened by ennui worn as armor--
Trashbin fires consuming the smiles and sighs and frightful, lovely
Words we can never say

it's just too cold to say them
with frostbite in our hearts

Broken terminals hold a camp of souls
drowning in a flood of morning coffee,
staring coldly at week-old newspapers.


Cigarette butts spill on reeking trashbins.
A railroad runs across the deadbeat town
as shades of blue fill and empty the seats.


Sad eyes wander on broken suburbans-
a grayscale panorama of faint smiles.
The sunrise, a lifetime away from here.