They Said it would Snow

I slept at my friend's house
After a movie,
Too haunting,
Too haunted,
For me to be
Old-house-alone.

With my pillow against
The window wall,
I lie and look up
Through the two-inch, curtain crack,
To see black flecks
Falling from the white sky.

I do not lift my head
To peer at the garden,
For fear
It will be perfectly preserved,
Under archaeological layers
Of ash.

6 April 2008

Another poem that's not in my usual style! I wrote the first draft of this yesterday, whilst staying at Bridget's, having seen "The Orphanage" the night before. I originally called it "April Snow", and had the current title as the first line. I'm still wondering whether the last few lines shld be changed, so the "ash" is "archaeological" rather than the "layers" (and, of course, the "perfectly preserved" is a deliberate cliché.) I am also not sure if, in my attempts to avoid actually mentioning Pompeii directly, I've made it such a subtle reference, that it can be missed altogether?