late dips...

it's 2am and i can hear the snow
falling and sticking--
calling for notice
and it shouldn't be doing that...
not now

there are enough blankets
being draped about
and we are just
again
beginning to peek under them
to see what's up
down
horizontal
and who's doing what
and why did whatever it was that was done
deserve to be cloaked
and tucked neatly away beyond scrutiny

it's late
the season near done
and the silence
tears through the night with breakneck stealth
and yet i hear it
because it has pushed beyond the element
of delightful surprise

dreading a prolonging,
fearing another cover-up
i can hear a soon to be delayed crash
two or more mechanisms losing traction
behemoth juggernauts
already running too long red-lined
too much fuel expended
and now where did this slippery slope come from

they could have braked earlier had they known
they could have not sped up so fast in the first place
they could have guessed that friction
was something not to dismiss and ignore
but now it's late
and i hear there is a bigger dumping soon to come...
there always is