When the Snow Falls on the Longest Night

I can’t sleep in this light
this orange light on this long night
December twenty-first.
It feels like a full moon
and I am so hungry.
I drink heavy cream like a cat.
I go walk alone through the drifts
the silence is magical
all sounds fall dead against the snow.
The cars are stranded
leaving only people
free on the streets
to ski and skate along, giddily.

I’ve waited till midnight
under these bursting skies
for the day to turn from getting shorter
to getting longer.
Our most enduring optimism:
there will be more light.
The snow piled up in great heaps
and everything glows with silver, and white and gold.