I remember winter in the city;
sidewalks, windowsills matted with snow
all around me

the quiet, shallow days of ice and rain
the wind that stopped and started
in an instant, bringing even
the immortal of the churchyard
to its timber knees

I remember the sound of rain striking metal
washing away the day's memory
each moment painfully clear, sharply unreal

I remember minutes that ended before they had begun;
hours that ended even sooner
caught in the white blur of urban winter,
another lost soul struggling to open a door, shopping bags
in hand

I remember those days
and even now, I miss them.