~cold roots

i.

I smiled once, in a photograph

ii.

somewhere, thunder is stranded

in a squall of clouds

waiting

          like an afterthought

          or the burden of shadows

          yet to fall

rain jewels the periphery

          curses the storm

          that brought you here

iii.

& so what if

I'm rain-drunk

dancing barefoot

shivering like

a virgin with

a tickle crawling

through my veins

the same as what

salt does to ice

          old words melting

          into new poetry

iv.

observe the crocus

pushing away the innocence

of new march snow

leaving its blood-red stain

in the budding

rising like sin from preying hands

v.

in the last season, as the sun sits low & late

bury the all of me

          bone & ash

                    smoke & secrets

lah 4.1.17 ©