Sometime in the Night

Sometime in the night
The rain turned to ice.
Had she been awake
She would have heard
The light scratching at the panes
Made by the falling pellets.

But she slept.

Sometime in the night
She dreamt
Of his warm touch
His fierce embrace
His left hand under her head
His right beneath the small of her back.

She inhaled his exhalations
Felt his beard against her face
Knew the warm melding of their
Complaint bodies.
This was her dream.

Sometime in the night
The ice thickened
The tapping at the panes
Growing more insistent.

Her dream changed.
He was out there
Somewhere in the night
Calling for her
Wanting her to come to him.

But it was so cold.
It was so dark.
He was so far
Too far away.
She saw his beckoning arms
His fingers stretching toward her.
He was becoming a block of ice
Frozen
Encumbered with ice
Falling down
Falling.

Sometime in the night
She awoke.
The tapping and scratching of ice pellets
Transitioned to heavy snow.
The trees
Electric lines were covered white
Bowed to earth.

Turning on her side
She huddled under the thick blanket.
Her husband lay beside her
His mouth open
Lightly snoring
Hands folded across his chest.
He was ice
Ice
And he was layered thick upon
Her life.

The one she once knew
Long ago
Was somewhere in the night
Tapping
Scratching
Freezing
And she would never know him again
Never know
What it was to be warm
Ever again.