Snow at night

Snow fell like a pause between a breath and a heartbeat
Listless, inexplicable, pristine,
The white maiden pages of streets before dawn
Scincillated palely, promising magic
Of new beginnings.
Cars by the sidewalks froze
Under thick blankets, enchanted monsters,
Hunching before a pounce.
Empty parks peered into the white silence,
Zealously guarding rabbit tracks
And the summer-time benches of lovers.
Trees stopped in the windless quiet,
Dropped their last yellow leaves
Into the snow and ice,
Frozen, fragile,
Like hard candy and equally bright.
Puddles stifled by frost, loomed black
Like negatives of lost sunny days…
A homeless man from Renton can no longer remember
A warm home that was his just three months ago
Policemen in heavy black coats
Look like Malevitch’s black square
Awkward in their attempt
To help
Ice on his blanket
Tarp, covering
Remnants of personal possessions
Snow
And oblivion