Cold is nothing,
cold is an honourable challenge,
a gay gauntlet flung down tight
with icicles,
clear, obvious, martial;
mildness is something else,
mildness is bewitching,
a velvet glove laced softly with
deceptions
and false hopes;
it comes in a narrow box, elm or
oak, plain
but lined with ivory silk...
(January,
1988)
