You wouldn’t even let me put my coat on
Against the black ice of Winter’s night,
My breath a white mist of ancient and unspoken words.
You said, “Love you, baby” coldly into your cell phone.
I craved those words like frozen fingers in need of gloves,
But they weren’t for me nor true of the moment.
It didn’t matter about the coat,
Nothing could have warmed me at that moment.

-Jessica Swafford