A/N: I’d just like to mention that Chapter 8 of “Et Vogue la Galère” will most likely be posted this weekend. I’m sorry for taking so long. But Chapter 9 will be posted very soon after Chapter 8 is posted. It’s already written, I just need to read over it a few times and make sure it’s how I want it.

Sharing Warmth, by Rachel Reardon

we held a funeral for the heater today
poor thing up and died this morning
left us to ourselves to freeze to death
why don’t they just rename winter?
I think “Hell” would suffice
we’re frozen skin and aching bones
two bodies too cold to feel anything
numb fingertips press to numb fingertips
two pulses quicken as sensation returns
some sense of warmth just barely there
radiating from either of our bodies
this nearness is our only comfort
when the world is suddenly this cold
well, we said an elegy for the heater today
but I can’t really complain, I guess
as we share warmth beneath thin, dirty sheets
barely touching but still making enough contact
just enough to feel our bodies warm the air
in the space that separates us
just enough to imagine each other’s heartbeat
but not quite enough to actually hear it
close enough to see the gradual progression
of the smiles forming on our pale faces
maybe we’re a little glad the heater passed away
maybe we feel all the more alive without it
while we’re nearly freezing in this bed
maybe this is what love is.