Winter at the Banff School

I have been here many days
waiting
expecting something to happen
watching
                : tons of rock
unnaturally on edge
stone seams standing in the air
at the angle of repose
                : the snow
piling wet and heavy onto ledges
and evergreen limbs
From the window in this dark winter
room I see
                : Sue
nine months pregnant
tomorrow   her long blue gown framed
in the window across the courtyard
                : a deer
climbing the slope
from the river    uncertain
of this light that is not moonlight
Across the snow   Sue watches
the doe     I think
of Sue's child and my son
back home and the fawn that may be
waiting
up the mountain
I am searching
for the voice that will speak
for all of us
but the doe and Sue
are moving
slowly
         silently
                   away
from the moment
                : the doe
steps into the swirls of snow
cautiously
but is suddenly gone
her tracks blown over
                : Sue's room
across the way
is dark
I stare into snow
that falls steadily    piles heavy
heavier on stretching    bending limbs

waiting

from Drawing Back to Take a Running Jump: Selected Poems, 2012 (buy the book on Amazon)