Winter empties graves,
sanity held together with frayed
bootlaces, and the fossil grip
of gnarled bones.

Tension rises like yeast dough beside
a lit hearth.

Take care, you girls who wander

the ribbon of your smile
is a bullfighter’s cape to a past
that lingers.

The North wind has seen it before

Blizzard cries out like an anxious
memory, howling and raw, and
river ice sheets moan.

Close the window, darling,
come away.

Ghosts need no company.