This Hard Winter by Kong Shiu Loon
The clock’s minute-hand
Trembles slowly to land
On never-never land
Reading on I pretend
With no man-made heating
The cold pages are not turned
Under my seat hide my hands
The wind roars
Ruthless like the gnashes
Of a monster
Its teeth steal through
Sparing no naked space
Around windows and doors
Considering sleep and dreams
Warmth under blankets
Sandwiched with a thick mattress
They too wait in frigid cold
For human body heat
And summer dreams
The night shivers on
Future fairy-tales will tell
This winter cold