Ghosts of Winters Past

I remember
the Christmas
when I awoke
to see
a shiny new
toboggan
standing tall
beside the tree

and winter breaks
spent sliding down
a frozen hill
where
neighborhood kids
could all
be found

rosy cheeks
and tingling toes
under sunny skies
at ten degrees below

boots trudging
and crunching
through
heaps of snow
were the winters
growing up
in Ontario

but forty years
have since
passed by and
the hill
now sits alone
and dry

dreaming of a
white Christmas

grass growing
on this bleak
December
plus ten degree day
where once toboggans
used to lay

Ghost of Winters Past

I remember
the Christmas
when I awoke
to see
a shiny new
toboggan
standing tall
beside the tree

and winter breaks
spent sliding down
a frozen hill
where
neighborhood kids
could all
be found

rosy cheeks
and tingling toes
under sunny skies
at ten degrees below

boots trudging
and crunching
through
heaps of snow
were the winters
growing up
in Ontario

but forty years
have since
passed by and
the hill
now sits alone
and dry

dreaming of a
white Christmas

grass growing
on this bleak
December
plus ten degree day
where once toboggans
used to lay

Karen Kerekes is an educator living in Burlington Ontario. Published work includes Dreamers Creative Writing issue 9, The Lothlorien Poetry Journal issues 7, 9, The Dissident Voice, The Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Carmen Ziolkowski Award Winner, Consonant Lights Anthology, Verse Afire, T.O.P.S.