Sun Fire Poem by Barry Middleton

I steel myself in the tropics
to hide from a patch of snow
that lingers in my memory
no matter where I go

I feel the cold white shroud
I never can forget
it haunts my waking dream
it stalks me like regret

I died in the coldest north
now life is filled with dread
though I may seem alive
for long I have been dead

I died in the coldest north
when love abandoned me
no kiss can spark my pulse
death is a count of three

the spring came three times
and melted the ice away
but then the season passed
it seemed like just a day

I steel myself in the tropics
deceived and safe from harms
but a patch of white awaits
in a shadowy lover's arms