‘Til Death Do Us Part

Getty Images

Between the pines and barren trunks

That bar my lonely winter way

My head is covered, as an alley

With the rice of a wedding gay.

All about me the North winds sing,

Though in my mind church bells yet ring.

The distance holds a feeble light

No bigger than my fingernail.

There awaits a lady in white

And the end of my weary trail.

I see her form dark the window

Of our new cabin buried in snow.

From the timberline I emerge

Bearing wood to warm our first night.

She smiles as our eyes converge,

Her face full of child’s delight.

Then a loud crack chokes the night air

And she is stolen from my stare.

I rush the pile of endless snow

Whose weight collapsed the roof I built.

With those same hands I do not slow

‘Till I unearth my lovely guilt.

Beside her I lay on our white bed

For unto death are we wed.