Sleet and snow kept me in that seaside town overnight. Restless, I went out for a walk at midnight, compelled by the quiet. I tried the doors of the church two blocks from your apartment, but it offered no sanctuary. I trudged from streetlight to streetlight, halo to halo. The Braille of our evening together rested on every surface. Daylight was far away and complicated. I didn’t know that you’d be gone in a matter of weeks, and that it would take years for me to find solace. Looking back at that raw night, everything was within reach. The sky was inexhaustible and our futures undecided.

black ice
only one of us gets
to grow old

Bio: Cherie Hunter Day