National Adult Literacy Database

February 17, 2003

This week, we have a poem written by R. Terrance Bartlette, from Ottawa, Ontario. Terrance is a student at ALSO - Alternate Learning Styles and Outlooks, and has just completed a collection of personal poetry.

Thoughts of Winter

by R. Terrance Bartlette

I hate the cold that winter brings
The loss of a song the robin sings,
The reddened face and stinging ears
And chapped lips and frozen tears.
Rubbing hands and stomping feet
At the bus stop is a treat
The dried up skin and running nose,
Along with that the frozen toes.
And the laneway must be clean
I dream of summer warm and green
No fragrant smells of summer's past
Just the white that's deep and vast.
The chilling cold that cracks your lips
And numbs your hands and fingertips
Don't forget the blizzard snow
As the howling four winds blow.
It makes me wish I was a bear
Beneath the snow within my lair,
Waiting for a sign of spring
Sleeping through cold winter's sting.
Or a bird that's southern bound
At the sight of frozen ground
I'd gladly take a horsefly's bite
If there wasn't all this white.
Yet here I stand and shovel snow
I guess that's just the status quo.