aubade for winter's departure by Grace Zhang (16, United States)

it is winter & all i can think about is how
the world is fraying beneath my fingertips.
how golden lights dance between the slants
of my windowsill like fire-borne fairies. last night,

---

i finally took down the christmas tree
with mother, my fingers digging into
rough pine needles. the two of us unearthing
secrets like rubies. look: dismantled tree
hanging like a forgotten corpse, so fragile
neither of us can steal breaths between this
flickering window of time. look:
after years of wishing, we are
finally having a white christmas. i watch

the glazed snow crystals melt in lazy puddles
on the windowsill, promising to myself that i
won’t ever forget this moment. outside,

the neighborhood boys are piling into a beat-up sedan
as it exhales gas onto the pavement. the sun, a reconstructed
portrait of divinity. & no, today i will not be afraid. today,
i will press gowns onto the forbidden planes of my body &
catch snowflakes on my tongue until spring arrives once more.