A Heart Frozen Over

Tread lightly over the snowy terrain of my heart,
For its icy blanket hides much.
Each step I take should be painful,
But it is much too cold to feel.
What have you done to me
With the chilled knife of your neglect?  

Traveling here was a great mistake,
For scattered around me are the frozen remains
Of old hopes and broken dreams;
Long since discarded
And banished to this wintry wasteland.
Yet my legs continue their unfeeling waltz.
Numb to my pain
And drawn to your promise.
The air grows colder.

I come out of my blank stare
To focus on your frozen portrait.
Foolishly I reach out,
Hoping to warm myself
With the heat that must emanate
From such beauty,
But you are cold.

I pull back in anguish.
Are you nothing but a beauty to gaze upon
Yet never touch?
To reach for
Yet never attain?

I want to scream.
Unleash my emotions upon the world
And let it deal with them in its own way,
But you would never hear it.
I want to cry.
Drain the pool of my sorrow
And let the world swallow it up,
But you would never see it.
For the cold care not,
And the warm curse them for it.

How can I love you
When I hate your every action?
Am I angry at your ability
To commit such crimes?
Or at the fact that I wasn't there
To commit them with you?

I turn away,
No longer wishing to look upon
The source of my torment.
But a flash of green
Suddenly catches my eye
And I stop to look again.
Am I imagining things?
Is the cold starting to take
Its final effects?
For what I see before me
Cannot possibly be real.

A small flower:
Not yet in bloom,
But holding out nonetheless
Against its tragic setting.
I push the snow away from it,
Not wanting to give in,
But eagerly hoping,
That someday Spring will come.

Copyright © 2005 Jarred Lee