On the Day I Learned You Died

On the Day I Learned You Died

I go out into the winter night
A mist of snow kisses my face

Snow covered tree limbs arch over the street and sidewalks
Light bounces between the street and the trees
I can see for blocks inside this tunnel of light
But can see little outside of its walls

Scrape
Scrape
Scrape
A rhythm I know well

I walk half a block before finding
A dark shadow shoveling the sidewalk

Another figure pops out of the darkness
A mirror of my own
The same burdened posture
The same plodding walk

I nearly laugh

A rabbit darts away as I approach

Each of us appear and disappear
Into the winter night
Kissed by snow

• Poem