Frozen Excuses - Olivia Nelson

The trees bare themselves in freezing times.

Brittle leaves left clinging to seasons stolen,

They refuse to stay.

Winter’s frost lets ripples in the pond still.

Chilling excuses for warmth hidden behind words.

Tongues too frozen solid–their breath hitches broken.

Everywhere I turn the wind gales loud and broken.

Quieted cries whip forward, wishing only for time.

Hope’s vocabulary sounds too much like words–

stolen.

Empty branches are swept to dance, disallowing their stillness.

Nature learns the patience needed to stay.

In mind of a snowed-in windshield you whisper, “Stay”

“How many more times will I lie here, broken?”

The windchill rasps through windows, our bodies stuck still.

The days get dark early now, less light and less time

to think about how these hours feel stolen.

Winter insulates us here, my mind blank–wordless.

Held close enough to suffocate. Your words

beg a yes. “For your birthday, I’ll stay.”

Thieves dress up as moments and lie they’re not stolen.

The firewood crackles without leaving space for broken

splinters to smolder. They run out of time.

The holidays let everything that chases stand still.

The new year–when life is dealt new choices. Still

breathing fogs into evaporated words.

Greyed snow marks the passing of unclean time.

The thin air weakens your begs to stay.

If all we wish for is us to be unbroken,

We left too many complications buried and stolen.

The crisp has begun to thicken again. Another stolen

season is removed from my timeline and still

your tires mark muddy claims. I’ve broken

down the freezerburn resting atop our words.

I melt you off from me as you continue shouting “Stay.”

Thawing already took too much time.

Time shakes smaller than us, snowglobes keep stolen memories safe.

You would have stayed for the next winter’s stillness.

Cocooned excuses prove time is hollow, a broken chrysalis in the spring.

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Olivia Nelson is a junior at UAlbany majoring in English and minoring in creative writing. She mostly writes poetry and flash fiction that reflect themes of passing time and emotional turbulence.