We Tried To Paint A Fire In The Snow Poem by Ben Partenay

Red and orange, yellow
Maybe a touch of blue
Paint the sky with fire
And the snow with a barren hue

Can we catch these shadows with our hands
Or will the dusk refuse to play our game
I think the streetlamps want to breathe awhile
Before we fit them with a starry frame

The people pass and nod their vacant eyes
We paint them with a dash of loneliness
The keys for home sit anchored in their pockets
And all the words are written on their breath

The snow is whiter than the stone I found
That summer day in august at the shore
We said it looked just like a tiny moon
You held it till the daylight closed its door

But now the snow is growing cold as dawn
And all its left is pictures we could paint
That show two lovers with a broken brush
You paint a sky that I describe as faint

Red and orange, yellow
Maybe a touch of blue
I’ve painted love with fire
And the snow with a barren hue