Deep Winter

The city shivers in its heatless smoke.

A man on a couch stares up, forearm on forehead
And remembers himself
In an airless room,
A useless pencil in his hand,
Merciless words blurring.
He sees his future as a curtain torn from its rod.

A girl breaks off a piece of herself
And offers it;
A coal, it clatters, rolls
and glimmers out.