Life and Death Share A Wardrobe

The world is white again

White like virgin diary pages,

Crisp and stiff

They say it’s the New Year,

But all I see is the end

Death rides on its pale steed

Sterilizing the air

Stopping the rivers

Burying our deeds in white,

As if they were nothing

Stealing and sucking the heat

Pulling the sky onto our roofs

The farmer laments

And stores away his plow

Great Bears retreat and go down

Into the darkness

And dream of Spring.

The color of age, bleached bones

Bride’s gown and fresh suburban walls

Death and Life,

The end and the beginning

Are absurdly close at this time.