Shine on, little one,

though your petals crack 

with cold and icy 

shivers lick hungry

at your tender throat.

*

Shine on when Arctic

winds whisper white lies,

slanderous icebergs

distorting your image,

warping your purpose.

*

Shine on when frosty

tentacles deaden

pulse, sluggish sap-drips

creeping in dead-end

veins, maze of the damned.

*

Shine on despite cold

that hounds, ferocious

predator alert 

for signs of weakness,

patient for the kill.

*

For your name is Light.

Your breath blooms as warm 

sunbeams. You were born

to spin straw into

gold; so shine, shine on.