I Have Always Loved Winter

I have always loved winter
With its caressing touch of icy-bright fingers
That stroke past my flesh with a tingle that lingers
A crystalline splinter
I have always loved winter

She was constantly cold
Her skin was of porcelain, her hands were of snow
And timidly soft into my hands they’d go
But her lips were more bold
She was constantly cold

Like embers her kisses
That latched onto mine like a coal hotly dropping
Down fast onto ice sheets without sign of stopping
And sputters and hisses
Like embers her kisses

But I liked the cold best
That bit of her most like a clear, frozen shard
And it pleased me to see her grow pallid and hard
More than the rest
I liked the cold best

And hard she did grow
When the winter’s invidious, envious chill
Slipped into her heart and set out to kill
That angel of snow
And hard she did grow

I crept into her tomb
Before they could padlock and shut the door fast
I crawled quietly in for a parting look last
At her in her room
I crept into her tomb

They had painted her mouth
With a cheap, scarlet paste that looked oddly of gore
Her precious lips blood-red like any man’s whore
Disregarding our trouth
They had painted her mouth

I wanted it pale
Like the lavender curls of an unfolding rosebud
Not like a blossom drowned in its own blood
Crushed by the hail
I wanted it pale

But lovelier still
She quickly appeared when I wiped off the paint
Like a beautiful snow-maiden lost in a faint
And I bent ‘gainst my will
Far lovelier still

Her lips were like ice
Like summer’s chilled peaches, my lips could not leave hers
Till my tongue, desperate tongue, had endeavored to cleave hers
No matter the price
Her lips were like ice

So perfect she lay
That I could not resist a parting caress
A final light brush ‘cross the top of her chest
Hooks in the way
So perfect she lay

Her dress on the ground
To join the shroud, white on white, folded frost
Curving and arching, now suddenly lost
At sight of her found
Her dress on the ground

So coldly beneath
Submissive, a pale, frozen sculpture she lay
And I lay upon her till bright break of day
She served as my sheath
So coldly beneath

I shall see her tonight
When ethereal clouds move to shield the stars’ eyes
And hush like a blanket my love’s silent sighs
And all seems so right
I shall see her tonight
In the dark of the winter
By dim lantern-light
I shall see her tonight
I shall see her tonight
She, the chill winter
I loved at first sight