CITY SNOW

White flakes of snow drop through the night,
Down from a deep and violate darkness,
A white beauty burning in the orange light,
A soft swirling passion winding inwards.

The wind slips under clothes of consciousness
And pushes aside that daily pride;
Then the chill fingers of a winter’s night
Slide towards the half-protected heart.

White flakes of thought pass downward
From the height of an ancient darkness;
Floating through a flickering serenity
They die on the damp, crowded pavement.

That moment of the flake suspended,
That blind bright moment hanging,
That second sustained; would that I could
Make that moment our lasting light.