A cracked sidewalk retraced from earlier this evening.
The December wind blows the stink of the bar off your coat.
Cigarette smoke curls up through my beard
as the snow begins to fall.

You cursed the dark void between the street lamp’s pyramid
of light reflecting off the cotton ball quiet.
A brief respite that reminds us
we drank up our cab fare.

You mumble something about spending our last nickel
on a good time.
It appears we’ve done just that,
as we silently calculate the arrival of our next windfall.

We take a shortcut through the park,
oblivious of the sleepy town.
Our silence corresponds with the lack of visibility
that has erased us from the landscape.

You snuggled closer, I light another cigarette.
The frigid air is silent. We listen as the snow begins to
collapse on itself.

A sharp sizzle transforms the soft fluff into ice crystals.
With our collars pulled tight against the gale we wish our
way home.

William T. Kraus is a singer/songwriter from Eau Claire. His career spans more than 50 years of stories and songs throughout the Midwest. His first book, A Collision of Words, was released July 7 and is available at The Local Store, 205 N. Dewey St., Eau Claire, where his CDs are also sold.