The warmth of chilled kisses

First Snow

The first snow of the season
Always makes me feel like a child
With everything to look forward to

A dusting of popcorn flakes
Spindering mid–air
Falling toward me
Like a kiss on that tear-shaped hollow
       nestled above the clavicle
       as desire arises softly from the cold
       and the air rustles like a silk robe

Coming early, it sits on the apples like a laugh
Coming late, it slides sideways through the chill like a sigh

And in my last mind everything that came to mind
       was the last one;
The last love, the last trust, the last hope, the last laughter
The last oceanside, the last lasting note fading, the last sunrise
       over the South China Sea in the shadow of Guanyin

And in my first mind everything is the first one
The first snow, the first morning after sleeping without pills
The first sign of sorrow’s end, the first child of my child
       the first poem after a long drought

Life be damned, you never can say what will be
Or even what should be, could be

Life be blessed
Each snowflake with its own idea of being

The only sin is letting it get away
       without recalling the wonder of it all

Ellen Sander