there is a field of brown reeds
behind the bay
lion tails growing out of the mud
in the dead of winter
they play hide and go seek
she hides in a clump of reeds
on a hill of mud
he finds her
not by her white dress
against the canvas of brown,
because two beautiful things blend together
but by her warm breath
escaping the threshold of her lips
into the undeserving frigid air
conspicuous,
in good against evil,
black ink drops
on fresh, pure snow

she wonders if she is still unnoticed
but his coy smile gives it away
she laughs as she gets up,
running along the path
bore into the sticky muck
from so many of their adventures
her bare feet sink
into the mud,
the murky water that stains her ankles
seeps inside her footprints
her naked feet tingle with cold
but it goes unnoticed.
he chases after her
their happiness radiates
to the sun
which extends it's rays of warmth
over them
prevailing over the cold, bleak day
a blanket of ardor
over a dead, indifferent body

suddenly, she stops
color drains from her face
her eagerness no longer protects her
and she begins to sink in the muck
her eyes centered
infront of her
there is a white crane
he lies dead,
sunk into the mud
blood seeping from his black beak,
his eyes are open,
and they are an impossible sapphire,
she stares into them,
windows beyond the sky
a sea of streams pours down her face
as she begins to scream
and she falls to the ground.
his snow white feathers speckled and stained
with brown, soft earth
a white rose preaching purity,
has sucked posion through her roots,
and her petals are stained brown
until one day she is nothing
but a dead, wilted mess

he reaches her,
she turns around and sobs into his shoulder
he picks her up and carries her
to the shimmering, cold waters
that lap at the tips of his exposed toes
slowly, they immerse themselves
until all the mud is washed off
and their bodies are numb with cold
he tries to turn and grovel back to shore,
with her still in his arms,
but he is paralyzed by the ice-cold waters,
and they went not with fear, into death
but hope
engulfed into darkness,
they drowned
in his impossible, sapphire eyes.