Snowed in Salt

All is not sacred, the snow preserves nothing,
Frost may still lakes but it never stops life
Or the falling pieces caught in the brief glimpses of
Moonlight that show themselves through cloud breaks.
People slip on the ice but get up every time, dusting down
To press on with the day or night ahead - this, though,
Is not true of now, the break in play that feels like
A break in time; even though it has just sped up.
Love’s fragility can never be underestimated
Yet when its final chapter is written in two people’s lives
The shock reverberates through the streets, bringing
Feelings of endless emptiness in stomachs’ pits and
The odd tear of sympathy that lands in the snow,
Untroubled, as it becomes part of that blanket of white.
Footsteps over footsteps, forever trampling and unceasing
Despite the sight of a blown out light in the room next door,
Where warmth once emanated, heating passers by,
Lost thoughts of freezing wonder rescued by it.
Now, it is smoke and ash for reasons unknown; burned-out
Flames make eyes drift away from the facing facts,
Allowing the most important thing to be pushed out altogether.
Snowed in before it had ever fallen, making the love impossible to retrieve,
And no amount of salt could clear the sought path or the
Realisation that believing it would last forever was the biggest mistake.