Winter country

Spectre to the north
You were a habitual apparition
Prompted by that string
That was tied under my left rib
And knotted by my own hands to yours
From where I trapped you
With my artistry. 

The womenfolk knew
How ill fated my journey was
They would chide me
As they plucked their geese
The feathers floating around us
Which I grasped for
Hoping I could make something
To store among the grain. 

You took me to drink from the river
And it mixed with my tears 
A brackish water
Where the tidal currents had come up stream 
Though I waded neck deep
You never followed me in to swim.
The geese went with you north
To your shallow nest
Stolen feathers to comfort you
And from the string claimed my warmth
Sending your heat to the south.

In the last season
You changed from boy to man
Custodian of your mother’s empty house 
Amid the peaks of snow
Wolfpack at your heels as you ran
You were older for it
Your wife bedded in

I should have known 
Her womb would keep you north.