from “poems for a brown eyed girl”

from my chapbook “poems for a brown eyed girl”


She saw him
standing
on the rocks
that connected
her land
with the water.


The wind blew
off the icy sea
and whipped
his brown face
until he looked
as if
he might
become a part
of the salt,
sand
and sea
that made up
the Arctic land.


The three shirts
and one coat
he owned
weren't enough
to protect him
from the cold,
and the skin
of his cheeks
and the water
in his eyes
froze
with the sunset.


"He looks
so small
against the sky
and the sea,"
she thought.


"He looks
so weak
against the rocks
and the ground."


Small,
weak things
struggled
to survive
around the Chukchi Sea,
she knew.


Her heart
was big
and strong
and warm,
and that
is what helped
her live
in this cold,
icy
place.


Her eyes
were brown
and kind,
and that
is what helped
her see
in this fierce,
white
land.


"I know
his heart
is big
and strong
and warm,
too,"
she thought
as she took
the lantern
out of the window
and headed
into the evening
to guide him
in.

- Trevor Scott Barton, poems for a brown eyed girl, 2018