I Dream I Can Unfreeze the Sky

A glittering, ice-glazed, sunburst day;
Sparkling, backlit phone wires, trees;
A long cord (or vine), within my reach,
Angles down from the sky, and I cry out –
Wisdom mocking its own doomed dream:
“If only I could unfreeze the sky!”
And tug hard that taut cord-vine,
Expecting nothing.

        But glittering ice
Crackles down from above!

        Amazed by
The power of this cord to the sky, I laugh
To friends nearby and yank again!

        And now
Squirrels leap huge gaps across
Bluest sky, flying, one after another,
Toward phone lines and trees – all backlit
And sparkling in icy rainbow refraction!

        And now
Kids on sleds, flying, one after another,
Glittering down toward snowy hills!

        I worry
About yanking again the cord to the sky
That makes all happen. Will ice and trees
“Shatter and avalanche on the snow crust,”*
Burying all of us below?

        But I yank that cord –
And velocity carries kids, sleds, and squirrels
Safely to snow white earth where we all
Tumble-crash softly in the avalanche
Like sleigh riders in such rollicking
Pink-cheeked glee, “you’d think
The inner dome of heaven had fallen.”*

I can unfreeze the sky!

*Frost, “Birches”