Her Winter Words
written by: Joyce Butler
@joycebwriter
All Winter long
words fell around her like snowflakes
landing on her tongue
falling in through her mouth
as she uttered the images
they made there
turning her blood
into frozen lakes
on a lost continent of ice.
Making her close her eyes
while letting out long forgotten cries of wolves running
a snowy pack
Was she safe with the wind
at her back?
Carrying sounds to her ears
only winter can hear
Sleighs rushing over rocks of ice
through Winter’s long night
How she longed for her sight
A glimpse of his body heat
rising between falling snow
‘There is only one way I can go. And that is into Mountain, snow.
Then, down below.
I know his ladies seek me there.
Brushing and touching my
woven hair.’
Turning her face toward the sky
as quiet words of Winter fell about her again
melting in through her clothes
How she shivered with cold.
Then a glinting word ‘shard’
cut deep into her cheek
Warm blood trickled downwards
making her weak
in words of no meaning
she prayed
Had he lost himself to her?
His ladies, they knew her
ice women crept to her
Sliding their tongues
on the heavy soft snow
‘We know where to find her, we know where she’ll go. Inside our wicked mountain we’ll drag her around him then tie them together for our complete pleasure. We’ll moan whispers together, their love our sweet treasure.’
I was shortlisted for the Atlantis Short Story Prize 2015 and I've written the first draft of a book.
- An Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger - July 24, 2018
- Heathcliff - February 7, 2018
- Net Stockings - January 20, 2018
