Open season on interpretations: tombée

Knees bowed and humble,
      a story untold
                while lost in the glitter
of winter, now cold:
                   a sapphire charm,
   an emerald sky;
         Obsidian altar,
and penitent I.

                What sacrifice calls
on winds of cruel time?
                    The whisper of blood
   its savour sublime;
             A diamond, a ruby
       bright, precious, and cold,
          A heart like a gemstone,
A mem'ry grown old.

                Obsidian altar,
Blind emerald sky--
           soft whispering ruby
    to penitent I.
                    On knees old as ages,
Dark haloed head bowed;
      in sapphire silence
           the winter enshrouds.

My shadow befeathered,
      assailed by the chill,
           nor bending, nor breaking,
   unyielding and still.
                  The wind and the winter
within me abide,
       for sad and a sinner
             Am penitent I.

                 Bowed knees in the winter,
a shadow grown cold.
             The savour of sacrifice,
    penitence old.
         Raise black-feathered wings
to emerald sky
                    and enter oblivion,
   penitent I.
"tombée"