A Reelick Winter. Poem by PAUL COLVIN

A winter chill is in the air and winter’s drawing near.
The rain has gone, the clouds move on and snow will soon be here.
Old people now are wearing coats, it’s very cold today.
The trees are bare, no shelter here, the sun has gone away.

In its place another sun, Jack Frost we call this one
And if you don’t keep running round, he’ll chill you to the bone.
An evil man, he smiles down, attacking young and old
For if you stare into his eyes, you’ll die from Frosty’s cold.

We’re out with woolly scarf and gloves, all knitted by our mum.
Our old school shoes with leather soles, are best to have some fun
We’d polish up the new formed ice and make the perfect slide.
Then take a run and jump the glass to see how far we’d glide.

We’d stay out there for hours on end, from early until late
And go back in with rosy cheeks and chilblains on our feet.
We take a seat to get some heat, in front of our coal fire.
The roaring flames they feel so good, I wish I was a child.

My dad leans forward to stoke the fire and begs me get some coal.
I go out the back, it’s freezing still and bleak as any night.
The bunker lid is jammed with ice which snaps when it is open,
I dart inside with shovel full, of coal all frosted over.

Mum cooked the tea and afterwards, I made my way to bed
And in the night I prayed to God, my dad would make a sled.
So that all my friends and I could go, way up into the hills
And practice something new for once, our sledging driving skills.

I get up early, not for school, but out to see my pals,
The snow is thick, we wander off along the old canal.
No water now that we can see, it’s just a sheet of glass,
The reeds stick through and underneath the fish are swimming past.

We head back home still full of fun and having a snowball fight
And looking to my house I see, my dad who knows my plight.
He’s just made me a brand new sledge, the wood is one by one
With metal runners curling up, it’s built for speed and fun.

I look up to Kilpatrick’s hills but they’re too far away
To drag a sledge up to the top and get back in one day.
Instead we use a bumpy hill although it’s not that steep,
WOW! Here I go, I’m charging down, this sledge is mine for keeps!