There, Underneath

 There, Underneath

in what would otherwise be
a new moon’s dark
this is new snow’s Shining Night among
the standing ones
needled and barked
still as growing stone
I find the place
shelter enough for
long enough to chew, for
long enough to melt snow down to earth,
which they did,
before they left
So, I am gifted their bare ground
needled and barked
to lay my body down
where snow falls upon my cheek
shards of tiny quiet,
almost painful
And that petty desert god
did not know any three
of the hundred names of snow
And he does not know me
tonight
•••
When I open my eyes again
after uncounted breaths of
warm wool comfort and
cold ground seeping,
I stand and see
There, Underneath
dark form of my body
curled, knees drawn, head on hand,
black ground among the new-white-snow
And that mark
I am proud to leave
upon this earth:
A shadow to be covered,
a heart once held so close
as to be a blanket under snow
12-30-21

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