Men in Winter

All winter we stayed in, making light

of the day, watching the clouds become

elephants, replicas of Italy, beards.

We called it trivial, what was outside

of us. It was so much fun.

When the nights came with their villainous

capes, we said what a bad movie

we live in, and wondered who was

to be saved this time, ha ha

and weren't the clouds low these days,

like aristocrats. It was a way

of passing time. We believed each of us

had a summer inside him, several deserted

beaches, a cove. When Spring came,

we'd had so much of ourselves we said who cares

and opened our doors like mad sailors

in a submarine, fathoms from this world.