A Thickness Of Ice (Poetry)

It was a cold time
small thoughts all frozen
it’s taken some years
to chip through the ice
and find myself there

Blue — almost perfect
the shell of childhood
wintered and waiting
for sun to break through
release what lay trapped

Kept like some promise
the melt is coming
warm days reviving
what needed to feel
be touched and made real

Chilly in limbo
years laid down their snow
seemed loathe to let go
their ages of grip
deep-freezing the dream

Puberty drifted
caught in the ice floe
brittle with frosting
later still shucking
that coat from my skin