Lifeless tree limbs prick my tongue
With every word I speak,
And snow melt fills my eyes.

I live in a world of wonder, they say,
But I am a narcissus; I see only my own life.
And I know myself more than most-
Enough to look inside.

I peel myself open with a rigid, little feeling.
I pick myself up, and I heave myself inside.
I shiver, not from cold
Or snow or rain or ice.
I shiver from the beauty and fear
That echoes somewhere deep inside.

I think that maybe sorrow is at my core.
I stand in eternal winter, as I stare at it now;
My heart is a snow globe
With endless gray skies.
I revel in my sadness,
Because I know it’s real.
It feels so very good
To know that I am numb enough to feel.

I long for no fire,
No spark to light the way.
I’ll lose myself here,
And here I will stay.

The outside is never pleasing,
So I choose to live alone
In this wilderness inside myself
That I am happy to call home.

My heart bleeds a staggering red,
So stark against the white.
I travel farther still, of course,
For I have no will or hope or time.

This is who I am:
White, gray and red.
This is where I go.

My heart is in a freezer,
Preserving its dreaded love.
I stay here to keep it company
As I sit here in the snow.