Small felt smaller still after

being buried alive, wrapped

Egyptian style in layers

bred of cold desperation.

*

Much energy was wasted

fuming, whining, recounting

tales of those whose days were filled

with blue skies and toes in sand,

Paradise lost; squirming drove

Small deeper into her grave,

tied icy anchors to hopes

that hell had frozen over.

*

Large watched in compassionate

silence. Grieving. Waiting for

Small’s heart to thaw. He sent his

love in diamonds, reflective

prisms in hues carved by age-

old mysteries into shards

of brilliance, setting each stone

with a jeweller’s practised eye,

glowing treasures at her throat.

*

He waits still. Small sags, sulky,

snow-blind. But patience lives where

love glitters; Large wipes her tears

with rainbows, crowns her mornings

with gentle soliloquies

cooed by mourning doves,

harnessing the Chinook winds

to end her hibernation.