It seldom snowed – Part III - Poem by Ivan Donn Carswell

It seldom snowed they said, and they were nearly right. In all of nine eventful
seasons crystal white on average graced the place just twice a year. A smaller
fall, an over-night preceded heavy snow. And heavy snow remained a week,
blocked drains and closed the Desert Road; but no complaints, our children
played in desert snow and made the most of winter games, building forts and
snow redoubts with flags and spires, their happy shouts and snowball fights
delighted even those who hated noise. Toboggan slides and plastic glides
and open sleighs made a way into their winter repertoire. Changes
wrought by snow could be excused in festive air unless they over-lingered,
hanging smoke from native wood and burning coal disfigured freshness
we enjoyed most of the year, but we would bear it for the while.
The smile of winter snow remained the season’s winsome pleasure,
and skiing on the mountain buried treasure if you’d make the dash each day
to ski the twilight fields. We do recall the soldiers who, whatever state
the weather yields, wait concealed in layered clothes and strode the roads
to aid the flow of traffic north and south. And lives were saved by soldiers
who were sent to search and rescue where unwary drivers crashed their cars
on frozen roads; it was not supposed to burden them although we were aware
winter was not welcomed with a keenness everywhere.
© I.D. Carswell