The Thaw

And the pain subsides, leaving an empty hollowness.

When the emptiness dissipated, I felt alive again. Like tiny, green slivers attempting to emerge as spring leaves, I felt my frozen branches awaken and become once more limbs of life.

I have awakened and will blossom, and will submerge into darkness when it in ice again returns.

- Mary O. Fumento, January 1999