A Little Girl’s Love Of Winter

She opens her mouth and breathes out clouds,

Giggling in glee,

“Mummy, I’m smoking, see,”

She collapses in laughter, rolling around on the floor.

******

Mum stands smiling at her precious little bundle,

Impressed with her delightful mirth,

A joy to behold, has been since birth,

And a lover of winter, is she.

******

Another giggle, another plume of cloudy breath,

Winter has arrived this morning in all its glory,

A little girl smitten with a frosty morning’s story,

Excited.

******

A tiny face pressed tightly to the cold window,

Ecstatic at the shapes misted onto the glass,

Eyes twinkling in sheer joy, the magic of winter has been cast,

Eclipsing a crazy dance from this smiling child.

******

“Mummy, look at the icicles hanging from the trees’,

She gasps at the sight,

“Can I go outside and touch them with my tongue,” she questions in delight,

A smile a mile wide lighting up her sweet face.

******

“It’s so pretty,” she yells in giddiness,

Prancing the width of the room,

Not at all perturbed by the eerie silence and winter gloom,

No, she can only see the purity of a crystal clean slate — a world reborn.

******

Spinning to face her mother, her little eyes plead,

And Mum smiles, knowing what comes next,

It’s not hard to guess,

“Mummy, will the heavens open wide and shower us with snow?”

******

With that question, she giggles once more,

“I’ll sled the side of the mountain, sleigh the slushy field,

I’ll build an igloo for Rusty the dog, and make it fully sealed,

And make muddy snow cakes and feed them to my little brother.”

******

“Oh no you won’t,” her Mother admonished,

“Winter is for the gentle folk, a reason to be kind,

To appreciate the beauty, purity, freshness of the chill,” she gently reminds,

“Not to torment or bully those younger than you.”

******

A smile creeps onto that precious little face,

“I know mummy, I was just playing,

I didn’t mean anything, I was just saying,

Can we go outside now and let my tongue taste those popsicles hanging from the tree?”