A Late Snow
A late snow came like a haunting.
Through its thin cotton dress
One could see the arrested spring
That had been so certain of herself
The day before, flinging birds
Into the air like a bride tossing
The bouquet, undoing her blossoms
Like reaching up to let down her hair.
Winter returned when we thought
It was gone, like an abusive husband,
Like a bear after a mauling,
Like an illness after remission.
I put on the heavy coat I’d thought
I could put away for the year
And walked out into the snow.
The horse was in the barn again,
Shivering in her chain mail of ice.
It was that white hour when
The world is the ghost of a bride
And one had to wonder whether
The promised wedding of heaven
And earth would ever happen.