Their life, collapsed like unplayed cards,
is carried piecemeal through the snow;
Headboard and footboard now, the bed
where she has lain desiring him
where overhead his sleep will build
its canopy to smother her once more;
their table, by four elbows worn
evening after evening while the wax runs down;
mirrors grey with reflecting them,
bureaus coffining from the cold
things that can shuffle in a drawer,
carpets rolled up around those echoes
which, shaken out, take wing and breed
new altercations, the old silences.
(Adrienne Rich)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Snow PoemsBased on Keywords: drawer, elbows, desiring, shuffle, piecemeal, collapsed, carpets, headboard, bureaus, unplayed, altercations