Kirsty McGee: Plane Vapours

do you remember one morning last winter
when frost sealed all the windows
you could see your breath in candyfloss
clouds in the sky that were cut through by plane vapours
and the blue of the morning was colder than your hand

when you took my small hand
into your large hand
and you pressed the two together
and they fitted like a glove

the coat that you were wearing
was of many different colours
but i pulled a thread out of the hem
and it was brown just like your eyes
you said that i was something
that was steady and reliable
i held your world together - i was cotton in your coat

and you took my heart
but i don't think i noticed
till i woke up here without it
on the morning that you left...

morning here is cloudy
there's a fire out on the leaf pile
and the leaves are getting wetter
all the trees are getting blacker
in a week or maybe two weeks
frost will seal up all the windows
and i will lie and think of you
standing in your coloured coat

and the way you loved the winter
more than any man i've ever known
and the way your skin looks amber
in the turning of the light

i saw you in the street
and you said nothing much had happened
you said nothing much had changed
but your eyes had changed their colour
maybe they were a little redder
or maybe just the light
could be i was tired (when i'm tired i don't see right)

and you took my small hand
into your large hand and you pressed the two together
and they fitted like a glove
and you said i'll see you
(maybe next week next month next year)
i'll see you (and then you turned away)

and the clouds in the sky
were cut through by plane vapours
and the blue of the morning was colder than your hand