Cold winter

Its cold in the heartland
Blowing, drifting snow
Chill, unforgiving winds
And nowhere to go

Gray, cloudy skies
Not a ray of sunshine
Cold, unseeing eyes
Make one shrink inside

Far from all my loved ones
In an alien land that's cold
The heart longs for warmth
The body, for someone to hold

I show one form to others -
Very normal, pretending all's well
Little do they know there's another at home
Barely alive, walking on eggshells

Cold silences in the home
putting out all warmth in the heart
I freeze inside
What better way to stay sane?

Akalya must have felt like this
Numbed herself to every feeling
Until cold as stone she became
And people believed that's all she is

Bundling up the body when one goes out
To keep the cold from getting in
Bundling up the heart when one comes in
To withstand the cold within

Walking aimlessly through the snow
Looking at homes lit up from the inside
Thinking somewhere within these walls
Normal, happy families must reside

The stone woman looks up
When she hears the voices of children
Bundled up and rolling along the hill
Shouting joyfully, oblivious to the chill

For a short while she pauses
Her heart thawing just a little
How I wish I could have my own
Then I'd no longer have to be a stone

It is getting darker
She can hear the whoosh of the wind
Soon it will be time to go and rest
The body, if not the soul within

Its cold in the heartland
Blowing, drifting snow
Chill, unforgiving winds
And nowhere to go