If cold is a war, it was forced upon us

By foreign powers or falling stars,

By climate crash or a terror weapon,

By ignorance of a mayfly's ending.

Our earth & seas & sky are one

Vast absence: vision dimmed to snow-blind,

Clocks & calendars featureless.

If cold is a war, it is always.

If cold is a war, it has mustered weapons

Past defense: no keep, no bunker

Warms itself without resources

Sacrificed to other crises.

We make our stands by hearths on which

Our oldest ally starves & sputters,

Leaving us little but bitter ashes.

If cold is a war, we are losing.

If cold is a war, there can be no quarter

Asked or given from forces older

Than any motive we understood,

Than any tactic we thought perfected.

Retreat is a dream of stardrives shattered,

Of cities crystalline & silent,

Of people dying in drifts like cattle.

If cold is a war, we are taken.