Through Slumber

I peer past
my pallid blanket.
Without nod it emits down

that films on eyes and tongue and hair.
I yelp, echo
in black and white negatives.

Musty taste settles—
clashing with frost.
Cyclical wars trigger shivers and quivers.

Beside footprints
and brambles
a threading path.

Nails claw to escape
my glacial cocoon,
to walk my faultless route.

I unfold to receive winter, jolted
with hope or exposed feet.
Brambles stare, begging:

Wait till ice thaws.
Wait till season allows.