December Snow - Poem by Brian Hinckley

December snow falls among naked trees,
blanketing fallen leaves like soldiers on a battlefield.

Paths covered with footfalls from the past,
slowly filled with crystalline flakes that gently bury times passage.

We walk until we stand before a single tree,
undisturbed by the bitter chill and frostbitten wind.

Wreathed in blinding light and surrounded by brilliance refracted off the falling snow,
we dance to music that exists only for us.

Minutes or hours or even days pass while we remain lost in our private dance,
only stopping when I shatter the moment with a soft kiss.

Your eyes grow wide and the smile fades from your face replaced by shock,
my actions stripping the moment of everything it held.

You turn and walk away with silence drawn around you like a cloak,
I stand beneath that lonely tree with the bitter chill mocking me and my foolish choice.