What I've Learned

So now

When snow makes the boughs heavy

And the towns go unlit

And the wildest children

Are hushed with fear

In their parents’ arms

Do you turn – wind flailing

The way it only ever claws

At eyes beneath bridges –

And ask

What I have learned

Along the long, long ways.

I have learned to

Leave my doors wide open;

To hide flint in my sleeve

And steel between my toes;

To practice the

Path of short knives

Through long, wet wood.

Panic is a waste,

And worry fuel.

I learned this in hard ways;

Learned to snap my knife shut against my hip

With one hand

And end conversations

On friendly terms when

The time had come for them to end.