Posted 12-11-03
Heavy and warm, it swaddles you.
Tightly woven, it does well its purpose,
to keep out the cold, the wind, the air.
You wear a gray coat,
a saggy hat that hides your brow,
and heavy boots that tromp through the world.
There are covers to the very layers upon layers of padding
to hold forth the elements.
Somewhere between the folds,
a glow of two white eyes pokes out,
the only proof of some inner life.
You wear a gray coat,
thick and puffy.
In your castle of clothes,
you are safe and warm.
No snow nor wind nor wet
shall ever breach that wall of thick fabricated sheath.
I hope that you are warm.
Because frozen eyes fall when I realize
that I will never see you.
I know not even the flavor of your skin,
nor the thick flow of your hair,
nor the red of your lips,
nor the soft touch of your hands,
nor the warmth of your embrace.
You wear a gray coat,
and nothing can get through.
Not the warm summer wind,
nor the soft spring rain,
nor the winter's first flakes,
nor the feel of the golden leaves of autumn.
Not even death can touch you.
Nor life.
And I am left to wonder. Are there more than eyes in there?
But the seasons will pass, and I will never know.
For you wear eternal
that
thick
gray coat.