Snow Gypsies

author’s note:

The next time someone gives you an earful from his cell phone conversation...

...just tell him, “Thanks–-I really needed to know that.”


SNOW GYPSIES

That man faraway
at the table next door
doesn’t realize
he actually speaks to me.

I’m listening to
the secret message
in his message

as he apologizes to her
over the phone
for nothing really:
            I just thought you might
enjoy seeing them
this evening,
                  that’s all.

He means to tell me...

...that tonight...
when I’m all tucked in
with my paws perched
on the white border
of the coverlet...

the gypsies of snow will fall
down from the moon
to drift over the hills
until they reach my roof

and then
pour through the window panes
like ghostly jangles
from a tambourine

to lay their crystal spell
over my eyelids--
to convince my eyes
that they have grown too deep
to think.

Then down within
I will see how
the cascading spirals
of all that snow
spin from the loom
of happy gypsy shoes

--their dance inspired
by the whirlwind
of the night’s violin.

My sleep shows the truth
of what I vaguely sense
while awake
        --in my depth, I witness
the stars of all those joyful
gypsy eyes
winking down on us
from tantalizing distances
as the clouds begin to clear.

Such secret nocturnal confabulation
deepens the morning--

as I shoot through
the sparkling waves of powder
on a power ship
I’ll feel greatly appreciative

knowing that the gypsies
worked through the wee hours
to lay this white carpet.

Though still dark
from the night, I will feel fresh--
as light as that net of snow.
As crystalline as those snowflakes
with their pure geometry burning.

So I bless that whiny man with the phone
--I thank him for bristling my neck hair
   with the foreknowledge
   of gypsy gifts that arrive tonight.

Though the gypsies mock
his polite society
they’re still willing to use him
to deliver their messages

--so as to ready me for adventure
   all through the long, lonely
   gray afternoon.

© 2009, Michael R. Patton
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