brought bread, drinks, soft things, beliefs of worthlessness challenged by behaviors of giving creatures without a thought. winter's grip forced to wait for another day before its clutches surround us and put us to rest; instead, we wait at temperatures just above freezing for a chance at recovery before returning to the weight of our promises. songs lilt. breath is taken. dough proofs in the cold overnight and waits to be transfigured into salted buttered crusts that push us forward like combustion to build ourselves not enclosures, but bedrooms, not cages, but homes. a chance awaits us to make ourselves firm in the heat to hold strong in the cold and wait for kinder days as we build the world that we await. nothing is promised, and all is delivered.