Contents

Love in Winter

Between a doorknob to my memory
and my present half-formed ghost, 
you appeared as a girl kindled in beauty. 
You showed me a passage through water. 

Because your eyes were warm, I found rest
in my wandering this winter, cave to coast. 
And because you stood in stillness there, 
between the trees of the unshaken snow
and the wild groves of summer, 
I’ve had all the time and heat I need
to gather myself as a man. 

I offer myself to you without fear. 

My fire was never at ease above the ashes. 
I got no good sleep because
I was always worrying about maps. 
I lost my balance walking over bridges, 
though none ever did collapse. 

Scarcely could I dissuade my mind’s
nervous phantoms from scouting out future events
and returning with impossible pretense. 

And so my predictions were shattered. 
That’s what happens when you are involved
in great art. 

Ah, my Love, when you travel I do not miss you, 
for I set about everywhere to welcome you. I am like
the animal that marches by seasons; 
I cross great distances in myself because I love you.

And when, before my ghost can form, you draw
with a smile nearer, I burn
the higher for it, defying ash and smoky issue. 
And when our warm lips erode
the cold air through their silent course, 
we move through each other at peace: 
each a fire, passing unscathed
through water.

About the AuthoR

David Albert Solberg is a sophomore at Kent State University double majoring in English and art history. His poems “Et in Arcadia Ego” and “Love in Winter” are meditations on the spiritual desire to find one’s origin and live by its emotion. He thanks his mother, father and the small lake near his home in Pennsylvania for their love. He was published in the 2014 issue of Brainchild.