Freeze

In the coldest winter for years

heaps of snow in hours,

white glittering crowns crouch

over trees, fence posts.

A diamante headgear

decorates the Buddha in my garden

and still no sign of you.

The streets became white,

ponds froze and rivers flowed faster.

Each time I think about you, 

memories flicker and soar, 

spring walks in Paris, warm nights in Spain,

I am shaking like the erratic snowfalls

and still no sign of you.

I cannot eat, I cannot work, my breath

is laboured, my world iced-up.

At night I hear the howling

of winter storms and watch

how space diminishes around me.

The moon hangs in the dark, a poker face,

and still no sign of you.

The cold sleeps in every artery,

freezes and thickens, clumps my brain, 

always in the shadows.

You have to light a fire

defrost and thaw me,

so very carefully and gently,

when you return.