Above Freezing

When we're alone again. This skin all peeled away. Empty cupboards on the wall. Heavy with missing shelves. Falling into their own shadows. As the wind embraces the rain. These minor fluctuations in gravity. That bring everything down around us. As if we were never that high. And never can be again.

The choices. Stiff with age. Creaking beds and closed curtains. Tempt the cold to determine. How graceful the end. Red markers on her belly. Black ink on her tits. They draw on her in color. Thin paper between their fingers. Playing the hare against the tortoise. Just minutes. Or maybe years. They are the same. From inside this question.

Not how. Or why. Just when. It changed. That child at the top of the steps. Looking down into the darkness. Curious and unafraid. Of what would come next. Still carrying those snowflakes in her pocket. Unaware that they had melted.