Snow

Snow

As children we searched the sky for snow
better yet-a blizzard sweeping through
brittle trees that froze around us.
The sagging backs of tenement houses,
rusty sign posts, barren streets,
would vanish under blazing sheets of snow.

While far below the window where
we dreamed the world, the river churned
a swirling, drifting field of ice.

Snow brought forgetfulness.

Always other than it is,
snow this year quickens the landscape
unshrouds the dead:

My father deep in snow among the hemlocks
opening up a path, refusing to be
thwarted by the antics of the weather;

A love unexpected,
filling the doorway on Christmas Eve,
in his arms an extravagance of flowers;

Snow falling softly.