Color

Up ahead it’s white. Snow animal,

I’m running at your back. I’ve failed to tell you

I’ve been hungry all this time, to tell you

I’ve been searching for you, like meat,

like water. All my life, I’ve distanced

myself. As if to know you was to drown.

As if to find you I’d usher myself further

from what is real. I’ve been adrift along

the threads of white leading me out

beyond an imagined frame. I’ve untied myself,

uncuffed the arms and neck. I didn’t know

I was hurt like that. I didn’t know

there was a force pulling me downward

toward a bedrock, lulling me to sleep.

You are the one escaping, you are the one

breaking free. I understand your astonishing

dash to freedom, done with the estranged wind,

done with frost and storm, orchids curling

outward beyond grief. The road widens

to glory. The road disappears.