Under a cold, starlit sky, the speaker crosses a log bridge beside a lake, a place she once visited with someone important to her to feed birds. Her boots slide as if she were a young girl again, giving the moment a fragile, almost playful energy. But the hope is serious: she wants to find the person who is absent, and this time she imagines them inside a cabin, safe and present, building a fire on the open hearth. The poem creates a hushed, wintry, tender mood. Memory and longing blur together, as a shared past at the lake is overlaid with a wish for reunion. The “diamond hard” stars suggest beauty and coldness, so the warmth she seeks by the fire feels especially meaningful. There is quiet ache here, but also a delicate, childlike hope.
Six — Summary
Under stars diamond hard, I cross this log bridge where we fed birds by the lake,
skating my boots like a young girl, hoping to find you, this time, cabined, building fire on the open hearth.