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passover winter

by Scott Kurtz

You fell for me: a hatchet
I fell for You: a tree
And in the fall
Your blood flowed for me
Your arms captured me
Your leaves turned from green
And I fled from the scene

All through the frost I lay sprawled
Tearing the skin to recall
The colours and graces of fall
I struggled up and now I stand
And twist and strain to feel again
Any colours or graces at all
Through the freezing, biting, blinding, silent wall

the flowing blood, the ice surrounds
impairing movement, arms, shadows
the holy ice of passover winter slows
the breath of life, my lungs and chest
and time and seasons crawl below

Constricting vice, die with me.
Consuming virtue, follow through.
Confusing swings of guillotines
Singing seasons: summer, spring.
My thaw is Real.
I'm melting back to You.