there were snowballs and sledging, scarves and woolly hats

I live in York. I have a degree in English and a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Wales Lampeter. I have been writing poetry on and off since I was at school.

Not another Poem called ‘Snow’

As children it delighted us when it came,  

never at Christmas but often at New Year.  

School could not re-open,  

there were snowballs and sledging,

scarves and woolly hats.

–

It brought us heartbreak too,  

when aunts and grandmas couldn’t come to stay,  

nor we go to them. We always knew  

the snowman would melt in a few days.

–

Once we shovelled the driveway   

for old Bill next-door, expecting pay 

not a hated mug of Bovril we could hardly refuse.

–

Now it only looks pretty. We feel the cold  

and worry about damage to the garden.  

But imagine a world without snow,  

the memories we wouldn’t have,  

the words we wouldn’t write. 

Peter Donnelly, York

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