Snow Day

Snow Day

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse
to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried,
the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while I will put on some boots
and step out like someone
walking in water,
and the dog will porpoise
through the drifts,
and I will shake a laden branch,
sending a cold shower down on us both.

But for now I am a willing prisoner
in this house, a sympathizer
with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio
on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School
is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed,
the All Aboard Children's School,
closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with -- some will be delighted
to hear --

the Toadstool School,
the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School,
Peas-and-Carrots Day School,
the Tom Thumb Child Center,
all closed,
and -- clap your hands --
the Peanuts Play School.

So this is where the children
hide all day,
These are the nests
where they letter and draw,
where they put on
their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls
whispering by the fence.

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls
are plotting,
what riot is afoot,
which small queen
is about to be brought down.

Billy Collins

Posted over on Poemhunter