The words

so simple...

“she tries to say”

She braves
the cold a protective shield
of winter
armor wrapped around her face
And her hair
smoke-stained flows in the
breeze like a velvet cape
behind her. Half-light
shimmers and settles on
her cheek like a crescent moon

His face—his hand writing
the words
on a fogged-up window

She pauses trapped
by tears in her
throat squeezes her
eyes shut like an oyster
protecting its pearl
To wish, to
speak
But her star burns in its dark
quilt like love letters
Forever sealed

and the words—

They die upon her
lips like snow
singed under morning’s
eye.