This single frozen moment, beautiful now,
How long can it last?
Should spring come soon
These hopeful spines will sag,
Icy flesh will decompose,
Slurred shades of "Yes" will necessarily
Resolve into "Adieu,"
And other facets of this jeweled vision--
This plastic bottle's accidental gift--
Will be clear:
There are rooms and walls beyond this pane,
Solid surfaces on which this dream will melt,
Appliances and countertops financed
With the same hope:
Beautiful now, beautiful...now.
Maybe it's unfair of me, on such a day,
To pray so cynically;
To see the beauty of ice amid historic lows,
What does it show? Serenity?
We once looked backward over painful times
And saw the beauty of struggle
As the centerpiece of--framed blandly by--
Our present comfort;
Why should we, the gods of irony,
Choose any other way but to look out across the void
Through spectacles of Hope,
And celebrate the beautiful Now.
