In winter I get up at night

Dead of Night, digital illustration, boy Roland

By Grace De Prophetis

In winter I get up at night, 

to look upon the weary sky 

to stare out at that single, lidless eye

as it gazes through the flakes of white 

To make sure that, among them, I 

am the only one awake, to know 

that only one watches the snow, 

and as the flurry falls to crust, 

I think about the ground below; 

I breathe the cold, for my needs must

sense the respite 

of winter in the dead of night.