A Grand Day

January 2, 2007

Our faces red,
throats hoarse from laughing,
we ran through narrow streets,
to be the first
to plant toboggans on the hill,
from where we marveled
at the blueness of the sky,
the grandness of the snow,
thick drifts that weighed down fences,
yards, the frozen creek.

And farther out jack pines,
more hills, more white.

Arms down,
two hard-fist pushes into snow,
toboggans leaped to hurtle down
hit bumps, and with a whoop
sailed up, jolt landed.

Giddy and strong we climbed
and raced again,
gulping the cold
as if we couldn't get enough.