Seasonal Clang

A sheet of ice banks all the rivertowns
Apartment windows strange in early glaze
As crisp as deserts and as hard the ground
Rocks soften from their falling glaciate

You'd never know that life became more hopeless
As everyone pretends they've urgent chores
Just sniffles and catarrhs and vents pervasive hiss
Betray the bitter white the morning bore

The sign says "alto" but your words are frozen
A mirror flaring back my cruel play
To warmer dens you're off in crazy motion
And now you've moved impossibly away