The Greatest Things

Needle pain on our noses.
Damp breath-marked scarves.
Water swollen leather shoes
and the constant need for dry wool socks.

Such monumental journeys begin
with short errands to the store
on the sliding back wheels
of a 1990’s mercury.

Black smoke. Gray snow.
Shovel sparks, and
those amber spinning-
evening lights.

Cold feet on hard wood.
Migrating the bed
like a bird
to the radiator.