The moon was full above the pines,
The winter night was still;
She sat beside her open pane,
A blanket warmed her shoulders well,
Her hair had come undone;
The village slept beneath the frost,
She watched the woods she knew so well,
The silver branches gleamed;
Yet somehow, on that colder night,
The forest too far seemed.
She missed the patient shade
That followed every step she took,
Though never once betrayed.
She had no basket by her side,
Yet something restless stirred within
And so, beneath the winter moon,
With no one there to hear,
She whispered softly to the dark—
"Julián..." his name was dear.
She chuckled at her foolishness
And shook her head with grace;
Then drew the blanket from her shoulders
And left the moonlit place.
She closed the window firmly shut,
Then wandered through the room,
Where dying embers warmed the hearth
And sweetened winter's gloom.
She set the kettle on the fire,
And watched the water steam;
A little cup of honeyed tea
Seemed just the thing to dream.
She had forgotten all about
The whisper she had made.
Until a sudden breath of winter air
Went dancing through the room.
The window creaked, she slowly turned.
Her smile had come before
Her eyes had even found him there,
As though her heart knew more.
He stood beside the open pane,
The moon behind his head;
Black fur and worn-out leather dark
Against the silvered bed.
She stared at him. He stared at her.
Then joy outshone surprise.
She laughed, so softly that the sound
Could scarcely fill the night.
He opened up his waiting arms,
And she went running there;
The warmth she'd kept within the house
She curled against his waiting chest,
Her hands around his coat;
And when he lowered down his head,
She lifted hers, her eyes afloat.
Her fingers rose, unhurriedly,
And brushed his weathered cheek;
She traced the edge beneath his hood
His amber eyes held hers in place.
She smiled, and whispered—
This time the name was not a plea,
It carried every tender word
She'd never dared have said.
A smile slowly touched his lips,
For after all the years he'd waited,
She'd spoken once to call him here.
She'd spoken twice to say—
Not Wolf. Not monster. Not the beast. But you.
