POETRY CORNER: FOR SNOWBALL

From the first moment

I saw you lying there,

heaped in innocence and despair

I should have known better, But I didn't care.

I was reckless

as a swerving car.

It will cost me. It has cost me.

Plenty. I said. I say.

I will say again.

But I swept you up

In my coarse woven hand,

and painstakingly smoothed and

shaped you--hoping--hoping.

I made you a place

near the fire, by my chair,

where I've watched you melt another year.

I should have known better,

But I didn't care.