By: Yucheng Tao
We are in the room, like two entwined trees
warming our love as the snow, a white knife
harshly cuts through the vast ice world.
You rub my back, tickling my ears —
“Everything will pass with the wind,” you say.
We cannot face each day with sorrow.
Things change, shift, and transform:
birth, death, and beyond.
Under the aurora, we throw a farewell party,
celebrating the joy of the moment,
so that we may forget it later.
One hand clings to the last fleeting hours,
the other reaches for the window,
seeking the biting cold.
I say, “Everything will be okay.”
There is always some warmth
as the snow melts, as spring comes.
Yucheng Tao is a Chinese international student based in Los Angeles, where he studies songwriting. His work and has appeared in “Wild Court” (UK), “The Lake” (UK), “Red Ogre Review” (UK), “Aloka Magazine” (UK), “Cathexis Northwest Press,” and “NonBinary Review,” where he was also interviewed. He was named a semifinalist for the Winds of Asia Award by Kinsman Quarterly. His work has been featured in over twenty journals, including “Apocalypse Confidential,” “The Arcanist,” and more.