When Winter Let Us Fly

We fell into the hush of snow,
Laughing clouds into the cold,
Stars held still above below—
For once, the earth let go.

Our arms swept arcs the dark could see,
Our boots erased their careful tracks;
The ground became a memory
Of weight we didn’t lack.

We lay there winged for just a breath,
Borrowed halos, feathers white;
Before the snow remembered depth,
Before the night took flight.

By morning all our angels slept,
The field unmarked, the sky unchanged;
But something in our chests we kept—
The night that let us fly.