A Winter Day

//a winter day

A Winter Day
by Elizabeth Southwood (C) December 21, 1997

Edited
by Eric Southwood

His car's hood under a red throw,
he scrapes the car's frosted windows,
then pours hot water from a can
on four tires frozen in snow.

This freezing, chilblained handyman
is late in mulching a garden.
He sees twinkles of snow landing
on bare trees as he parks near town.

He stacks firewood. Snow's blowing
on the frozen river, mounding.
He sweeps a pond clean for skaters.
They, when school's dismissed, start running -

holding tight to skates that clatter -
to race, and crack the whip an hour.
He drinks hot soup by his fire,
which blazes up 'till he's warmer.