It’s only ever
After not necessarily
Happily ever after
When I awaken
To something new
Around the old
Me like an
Ice storm coating
Everything in a
Brittle tender mask
Weighing me down
And snapping things
Like heart strings
Plucked from outside
Inside making thudding
Dead sounds like
That other shoe
That I’ve been
Waiting to drop
When friends rush
In like tiny
Firemen carrying buckets
Of water to
Not douse but
Free me from
My now icy
Self taking me
Back to someplace
Safe and warm
Sans the ice
Plucking then those
Same strings making
Them sing again
Now with laughter
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 