Only When Poem by Katrina Harms

Only when
you are with me, do I
forget the long, faceless stretch of winter
Its heaps and billows, barrows of hidden life
Beneath prickled wreaths of needled bramble
Pale as chalk
It is our empty road, endless in its entirety
Stretching miles through the winding tour of memory
Will I remember who I am,
lost in its sorrow, the achingly green tendrils
of pine boughs, mantled against white sky

and you.
You, so calm
and silent beside me, enduring
despite the wind
Despite the years lost
Time bows before the cruelty of
winter and the persistence of
unrequited longing.