Mary Skapek

Frozen Hope

by Mary Skapek

The earth that frosted fingers slyly stroke, Beneath the weight of lacquered shell does hide. A chilly silence does the planet cloak, It seems the voice of sounding life has lied.

Ice coats the fractured labyrinth of ground, And hangs barbed, dagger-like from boundless blue. Rays of sun glint offthe glaring crystals, Light that blinds, but with heat cannot imbue.

Night shadows creep and shroud the frozen realm, As flakes of falling snow are lost in stars. Gales breathe frost to obscure the mighty helm, Though Frosty grins straight through the white that mars.

But deep below the choking cold does grow, A seed that through the brutal hush will glow.

photograph by Maya Adelman-Cabral