Snowbound Poem by Christopher Tye

Snowbound

Mid-winter and spring snows cutting us off,
Rural isolation as roads become impassable.
Dark nights and bleak days during power-cuts,
Hoping the food will last and the water-mains don't freeze.

Temperatures staying well below zero at midday,
Ice forming on door handles inside the house,
Roofs creaking and groaning under the weight of snow and ice,
Huddling around the fire to keep warm as the camping kettle boils.

Snow reaching up to the eaves and still it falls,
Roads blocked for a month as the drifts keep forming,
No hope of getting out of the village for help,
Food and supplies only getting through in air drops.

Hours spent each day digging out paths again and again,
Trying to keep them open to neighbouring properties,
Keeping access paths cleared to log shed and coal bunkers,
Working fast trying not to compress the snow to ice.

Rural life is always hard when snowbound,
But we couldn't live in faceless towns and cities,
Artists rarely paint towns and cities covered in snow,
It's always rural villages and countryside captured on canvas.

Snowbound at the moment let's hope it's not for long,
Snowbound roads ain't no fun out here in the wolds,
Snowbound villages and hamlets on moonlight nights what a view,
Snowbound countryside in winter sunshine what a sight to behold.

Being snowbound is the best of times,
Being snowbound is the worst of times,
Being snowbound pushes life to the limit,
Being snowbound makes everything look beautiful.

Snows come and go faster than the seasons,
Some of them remain far longer in folklore,
The harsh winter of 1947 when life nearly stopped,
And the winter of 2010/11 when ice persisted until April.

When I was young a very long time ago snow was fun,
Snowball fights with other kids and target practice using traffic,
Building snowmen and even igloo's some years,
Walking over snowdrifts and realising you're standing on top of a hedgerow.


Now I'm old and decrepit it's not so much fun,
Worrying about falling over and breaking a hip,
Worrying about catching hypothermia when the power goes out,
At least I can still enjoy the view when snowbound.

By Christopher Tye