You Only Cross My Mind In Winter

Always this winter, child

December's sun sits low against the sky

Cold light on frozen fields

The cattle in their stable lowing

When two walked this winter road

Ten thousand miles seemed nothing to us then

Now one who walks with heavy tread

The space between their footsteps slowin'

All day the snow did fall

What's left of the day is close drawn in

I speak your name as if you'd answer me

But the silence of the snow is deafening

How well do I recall our arguments?

Our logic owed no debts or recompense

Philosophy and faith were ghosts that we would chase until

The gates of Heaven were broken

But something makes me turn, I don't know

To see another's footsteps there in the snow

I smile to myself and then I wonder why it is

You only cross my mind in winter