Winter Vacation (Poem)

Winter Vacation

Upon our return from
India
We discovered

Not three inches
Not six inches
Not one or two feet
No, it was four and (a) half feet
Yea, it had to be several feet
Of hard crusty snow -
A mix of freezing rain
And frigid snow
Like multilayered chocolate cake
With interspersed frostings
Hard unbreakable icy frostings
But all white in color;
Crystals of pure water

What is the point of 
Studying hydrogen bond 
In a dry lecture hall?
You learn it 
It gets into your bones
Into the sinews
When the age worn
Hands struggle to break
With steel garden pointed shovel
The ice boulders
And wearily lift the heavy
Loads of Crusty Snow

Lord Siva must have smiled
On this devotee
I have to seek pardon
From Ganga mai
For hitting Her hard
With cruel metallic blows

But what could I do
I had to make way
At least for the minivan
Everything got stuck -
No groceries, no milk
No doctor’s visit
Everything frozen, totally standstill
Surrounded by icy walls

In that little space
Call it driveway
Or car park
We’re trapped for almost
Three full days

Yet
I have no hard feelings 
About the celestial downpour
Of pure white angel dust
It is really white pure snow
No acid rain here
Just pure yech-two-o

You can drink it directly
And you can use it
For indoor plants, for misting
Or in the steam iron

In between shoveling
I stood silently
Wondering 
Will this mountain of snow
Ever be finished?
That’s like asking the philosophical 
Question: “Will this mound of 
Accumulated karma ever dissolve away?”

Copyright by the author 2025