Tonight we sleep
above the ice,
(cocooned like mousies in sleeping bags)
under an impossible number of January stars,
(brilliant like only winter stars can be, Orion hunting alone)
over the lake, and the fish in the lake,
(swimming slowly in the iced water capped by sixteen inches of ice)
in this bitter cold,
(as I burrow further and further into my nest)
through this lonely watch of night,
(three decades in, we breathe across the aisle, untangled)
inside my dreams the lake is a giant, shifty and cross, too much river in its belly,
(the ice creaks and rumbles and groans and cracks and growls)
beyond this shelter the sun’s first rays slide over the ice,
(the bright silver sliver of moon slipping like a minnow behind the bare tree line)
in this small space, it’s a false darkness,
(we’ve blocked the sunrise, and curious neighbors)
below me, though, the holes drilled yesterday to catch the fish in the belly of the lake
(tempted, or not, by the dancing bait)
catch instead the light from the sunrise
that I leave for you
as I drive
away.
Halfway North 