Paula Burns
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Stealing Melancholy

She had prayed for snow,
summoned the red glow
of a night sky,
masking the moon and stars.
Her mind passed effortlessly
through the glass door – and
the trace of her body tip-toed,
tip-toed across the lawn.

Memories fell,
within a liminal world,
caught in the powder-white lace,
drawn down in the chill,
where the sky had torn.

She had longed for the chill,
notched it colder by degrees,
whilst reading the diaries
of Sophia Tolstoy,
the stark words stitching
her thoughts in place.
Stealing melancholy – some might
say, this desire for a Siberian winter
- the pettiness of life -
sunk to the bottom of a frozen
garden pond.


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All artwork and written material is copyright © Paula Burns 2015.  No reproduction or use without the artist's consent.