Crystal by crystal they fall,

Feelings in six-sided flakes.

Small, light powder floats down;

Joy, comfort, contentedness,

Settle at my feet.

As the clouds shift bringing darker horizons

Grief clings to guilt,

Anger melds to hurt,

And heavy, wet pieces build drifts against my spine.

Day to day the frozen precipitation falls,

Flurries and burgeoning blizzards,

Building glaciers in the basin of my chest

My mouth calves icebergs into the sea,

Impassioned arguments and outbursts

In the midst of withheld words.

The vehement pulse of my heart feeds the storm

Like a dealer to an addict.

Growing and receding the pack shifts,

Leaving striations on the bedrock of my soul.

The careless footing of those who journey

Into my wilderness ignites avalanches;

Sending icy plumes barreling down my throat.

They carve out hollows and freeze my

Vocal chords until the only audible sound

Is the discordant reverb of river ice breaking at dawn.

Life goes on after the dust settles every time.

Years cycle on, until living becomes an ice age

And the droughts of summer become extinct.

And I am frozen to the bone.