The wind roars its rapturous laughter
as the traveler trudges through snow
A path long and wearied
Fate’s last gift to bestow
Within dusklight’s soft embrace
another pair of footprints left
The soft impression weaves its tale
of lady’s loss; of love bereft
For many years they’d passed,
but never their steps had crossed
This tender lady, the man’s heart
knew only as a fantasy lost
This eve bore a blustering snowfall
A violent winter’s cry
“My lady should need my coat,
even should it mean I’ll die”
The meters he keeps surpassing
when at last he lands in her footfall
Upon a stump, her shivering frame
Her gown a glistening pall
“Take my coat and cap,”
the man groans his plea
But the lady waves him on;
to the wind, she bade him flee
Under moonlight, he strips his garment
Her glassy mirrors he’d meet
Then upon the ground he falls
His coat laid at her feet
From his heart flow love and pain,
poured upon the frost-bound soil
The wind dies down; a quiet
that only her gasp would spoil
The lady strained with sadness
Her frozen visage shown “Why?”
But the man’s heart filled with gratitude
that ever he could share the same sky
From trembling, rose-colored lips
so frigid and so worn
now flow forth her song imploring
of a lifetime’s love to mourn
The lady's heart thrums onward
The traveler's march her toll
Upon her shoulders, his coat
and in her hands, his soul