SNOWY WINTERTIME

If I could be a poet

And make words and verses rhyme,

I'd write about the beauty

Of the snowy wintertime.

I'd write about the Red Birds

Flying through the fields of white,

About the neighbors lighted windows

Shinning through the snowy night.

The cedars down the drive way

Green boughs drooping down with snow,

Standing motionless and silent

Like Indian teepees in a row.

Frozen streams across the landscape

Snow drifts hanging from the banks,

Cattle coming from the shelter

To drink from heated water tanks.

There's beauty all around us

As the Seasons come and go,

When Autum's bright warm days are gone

Cold winter brings the snow.

John L. Gwaltney

APRIL

Farewell to Winter's icy blast,

Farewell to the sleet and snow,

Warm April's back with sunny skies,

Soft Southern breezes blow.

The grass grows green in field and lawn,

Wild Violets bloom anew,

The birds return to build their nests,

And sing the whole day through.

The farmers go back to the fields

To labor with their plows,

And trees around the landscape

Put new leaves on their broughs.

Wild geese fly North to nesting grounds,

While bare-foot children play,

And bees take honey to the hive

On a warm and balmy day.

A gardner works out in the sun,

Making seed beds row on row,

Forgotten now the winter's cold,

It seems so long ago.

John L. Gwaltney