Lines In The Snow

 One red plastic sledge

One child in green boots

Sunshine. I see the shadow of snow on the wall as it flops down from steep roofs. The wall is pockmarked with black silhouettes as birds skitter off into the blue. A man and woman walk by in matching woollen hats, knitted in the Arran style. Their words are smoke in the air.

One green plastic sledge

Two children in fur hoods

Then, I walked to school waist high in snow. Later, stripped by the teacher whose face I don’t remember, I sat by the school stove watching my clothes steam and drinking orange juice, government issue. My teacher rubbed my cold feet between her warm hands. And still I don’t remember her face.

A woman pushes a wheelchair in the snow -

it has bright yellow wheels

customised for long-term use.

 

 

I dream of a broad river

And sunset at  the end

Of a bright, warm day.

 

 

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