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Snowy Morning
Have you taken a grapefruit from the fridge,
Sliced it open, segmented it with a serrated knife,
Sprinkled sugar on, while stood at the kitchen window
Looking at the snow falling?
Looking out at the cold air
The tang of the grapefruit hits sharply
Into your throat as it slips down
Slice by slice.
Last night the bald trees were brown,
The grass in patches, the bushes clipped back.
Glamorous snow has caught out the silent birds
And the boy that runs from a back door
In gum boots, hat askew, jacket unbuttoned,
And mother yelling him back, who stops only
To open wide his eyes and mouth, arms
And fingers to the flakes.
He feels he's happened on a fairy tale's
Deliverance from darkest sleep;
While we, grown older, see the world's shift
As news, like any other unexpected event
That makes the news. We think of slippery paths,
Frozen cars, cold knees and necks
And the inconvenience of ice, we shiver
And put the coffee machine on.
But did something touch us
Shivering like a soft feather falling into
The spaces between words? And were those words
Like bells chiming in the crystal air?
Then ask for every day to be like a snowy morning
Even your last on earth, as your spoon delves
Again inside the grapefruit, its juices
Dissolving the sprinkled sugar snow to slush.
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