Velvet Shoes

Unnumbered snow have fallen from these skies
To bless the earth: yet there will always be
The same wide wonder and the glad surprise
Whenever house-bound folk look out and see 
The giant sheet spread out to cover all
The frozen ground, the sleeping grass and flowers,
Tucked down between the hills: and falling flakes
Can fascinate and entertain for hours.

Then, when the last pale wing is folded down, 
A fairyland is there with trees of pearl, 
And crystal streams and diamond-studded roofs.
While down the roads, white velvet rugs unfurl.
Lean winter's cup is scant for beauty's thirst;
We greet each snow as though it were our first. 

M. Kathleen Haley