Winter has made one last-ditch effort to make its mark

Plastering us all here with three inches of snow parked

On lawns, where some have rolled it up into huge balls

And then have placed them one on top of another to call



Attention to the fact there was now at last enough snow

To make it seem like winter as temperatures were below

Freezing, at end of the week, as drafts suddenly appeared

And hurried attempts were made to block them so tears



Would not fall for any reason - including the cold spell

And, yet - drafts - are not always the only thing to tell

For sadness does appear for so many different reasons

Other than a sudden realization of changes in season



Like today - when the fat snowman stood so proudly

As people scurried by gazing and wondering how they

Managed to make such an enormous snowman, so tall

Perhaps even ten feet high it stood, reaching out to all



And yet - just a few hours later - on a subsequent pass

It'd become like Pisa's Leaning Tower sliding to grass

For the last ditch effort made by this so shallow winter

Has now dissipated as sun's returned, and snow splinters



And the extra window insulation is no longer needed at all   

For the warmth of the day has fed us well, and enthralled

As folks ran about - with almost summer clothing at last

And cars all had their windows open - to air them fast



As new vision started in league with the sun's beams

And people who have been shut up, no longer seemed

Like secretive shadows - images without real names

For folks out there have form, faces, and are real tame



- Tristram



Christopher W. Thomas

6:33pm Monday March 16th, 1998