The sun was bright that day, so brilliant;
And we felt an enchantment, seeing it as if from the top of the world,
The ski lift swinging us effortlessly up the side of the mountain,
Birds all around us, floating on the breezes,
while we ourselves seemed to be flying.

She mostly sat in between us, going up; her head on my shoulder,
Her hand on his leg or his hand, as though torn just at the heart and arm
By some decision she couldn't quite bring herself to make yet.
Her blue eyes grew film-covered at times, almost questioning..

Then that one time, she had stayed behind to have a drink
At the snack bar; and then it was only him, sitting across the seat from me,
Not meeting my eyes, not touching me anywhere,
Keeping his stare purposefully low, no expression at all
On his dark, immobile face, his black eyes more immutable than ever.

I had the element of surprise, because he hadn't expected
That I would still board the seat beside him without her there,
And his expression only changed a degree, when I took his arm at the top
As if to assist- but at the last minute, I thrust him forward instead

Back down, toward the cage of the engines; and traction-less, he had sprawled there
For a few seconds, face-down, and then tumbled untold distances beneath,
Disappeared like a toy dropped from one of the cars- and such a strange silence
Seemed to ensue then; as if no one really believed it was a man had fallen.

The cage fence had nearly arrested his fall, but by some strange circumstance
He rolled one time too many, and thus began another free-fall.
They found him later, a good distance below the top of the lift, wedged between rocks,
His black eyes fastened on something above, they said;
As if longing for one last look, at something just above there..

It was no use calling an ambulance, as he was also obviously frozen,
Besides having a broken neck. But I knew what he had been looking for;
He was looking for something he would never possess now, never have again:
Those blue eyes, in that pale face, so much like a childs, that ivory island
Surrounded by black hair; the contrast making it appear so full of blue light,
So wonderingly lovely, like a first pristine snow-fall, surrounded by the dark woods.

As I went to tell her the bad news, new flakes began to drift slowly down,
Covering the old world, the old wounds; it was like starting over again,
A fresh, silent insulation quietening the land, a fresh beginning-
For everything lucky enough to be still living..