It Didn’t Have To End Like This

The familiar – unfamiliar / creeps in like a blizzard /

as if “colder” makes a difference when you’re numb.

Much like waking to the dark doesn’t differ from day’s depart,

when you’re stuck between the solstice of the sun.

Still somehow nor’easter winds penetrate the thickest skin.

They block scenery right before your eyes.

The visibility of the road trusted to bring you home,

now threatens every turn along the ride.

The familiar – unfamiliar / of betrayal seems so similar /

to a heart broken once upon a time.

Likewise, just as a storm brought arctic winds before,

turning direction on the drop of a dime.

You’re told “each pattern is the snowflake’s own.” Yet, you still know

how the intricacy of its crystals cease to awe…

when the familiar – unfamiliar / signs of frostbite get delivered /

to fingers gripped on wheel & clenching jaw.

First mesmerized by the glimmer & sparkle the sun delivered,

fresh loyalty blanketing your world.

Then, like a snow globe shaken, doubt clouds your current situation.

Now you aren’t sure which direction you’ve been hurled.

In the past you have survived white-knuckling as you drive

& losing traction on ice you couldn’t see.

That doesn’t mean this squall can’t throw you straight into the wall

divider during tonight’s commute on State Route 3.

The familiar – unfamiliar / always seems to whisper /

or blow us over into Old Man Winter’s path.

Where it’s difficult to see something of such beauty

held captive in his icy winds of wrath.

Is it worth your frosty breathe begging for promises to be kept?

Or will it only bring you more sub-zero burn?

Do you pull over & wait? Or will that only seal your fate

of demise to prior lessons learned?

Ironic, we blame the snow, not the biting wind that blows;

blurring individual flakes to one stream…

to appear as if they’re all the same barrage of Jack Frost’s pain,

encompassing the hopeful lover’s dream.

The familiar – unfamiliar / a storm siren delivers /

chills you like deception does your heart.

While each situation, unique in presentation,

collides like mass pressures from afar.

Now, what once kept you warm & safe in winter’s storm

spins your wheels out of your control.

Screeching gears as if to say “What saved you yesterday

won’t keep hypothermia from taking today’s toll.”

The familiar – unfamiliar / of exposure to the winter /

begging to feel anything but numb.

At chance’s mercy, should another white-knuckle clutching driver

come along this stranded soul’s outcome.

Impossible not to wonder as you get buried under

snow mounding as the wind subsides from strong;

if you had only focused on what you have, not what was gone,

you could have realized blizzards always pass along.

But now, it is too late, as you slip into your fate…

frozen hearts always get just as they wish.

Frigidly you die alone while someone wishes you were home

whispering “It really didn’t have to end like this…”