Snow Blind

He hated his colleagues’ novelty Santas
He hated their singing snowmen, and fake snow
It was in the snow that he ran home screaming
It was in the snow that his aunt found him 2 hours later

Wrapped in a towel with bear ears, he saw the lights flash a mile away
The red and blue illuminating the snow, as he froze in his aunt’s arms
Both of them aware of what had happened
Both too numb to say the words

Now time has passed and winters are warmer
The snow still cuts him like a knife
As it gently lands on his pale skin
His friends revel in Christmas cheer
He silently breaks down

So as he sat there in his grey flat
On his own for Christmas
The thoughts of the snow made his pain flood back like drifts of powder
He couldn’t get away from that day
Those lights
That snow
And the moment his young life skidded from the road

He got up and he ran
Through the white capped park
The silent streets of Christmas morning, dusted in snow
His eyes burned red and his chest felt heavy
But he ran on, passed the places he has seen before
He kept running

He ran until he breathed ice

And in the Christmas of his twenty-second year, he found comfort in his bear-eared towel at his aunt’s house, where it will be waiting for him next winter.