Cold as Snow

I used to wish for Winter days and snow
Back home, back when I was too young to know
The thought of such immaculate and enchanting sight
A wonderland where wishes beamed—so bright!

Soon, at last, the first fall of flakes has come
and awakened me on a dusky dreary morning
Silent little feathery bits of immaculate falling
from the sky above Gently kissing
the damp green grasses below in aplomb

Child-eyed, full of awe, I hurried and opened the windowpane
There I stood and stared, then smacked on the face
By the sudden whip of ice-cold brazen haze
I closed my eyes and felt the breeze of cold-hearted pain

And then I wondered to myself once more
Where went my smile? Oh, it was killed!
It flew against my will
The smile I kept when Winter was still a lore
Are wishes grand only when they’re still
deep in our hearts and unfulfilled?

Another whip of Winter breeze has lashed my face
Right there and then, in a faint wintry morning daze
At last, I witnessed my first-ever sight of wished-for snow
Alas! It turned my heart into something as cold as floe

O Cold! So cold! Because I was so far away from home
The mirth for a wish-come-true was gobbled by a winter gnome
So now, how could I wish again for the return of snow
When home’s the only wish that sets my heart aglow?


- 10:15 p.m., December 4, 2003, Thursday; Surrey, British Columbia
(While listening to “Life in a Northern Town” by The Dream Academy [The Dream Academy; 1985, Warner Bros.])