A sheet of ice on black pavement gleaming

As frost, settled on shrubs, illuminates

A white powder morning and activates

The sound of grass, underneath feet, crunching.

I with my twin brother wander, beaming

Along the path untouched, to what fascinates

The mind of two children and resonates,

Bridging the gap between awake and dreaming.

For brief moments the world was fresh to learn,

The time spent knocking icicles from eaves.

I quickly learned how beauty chaps and cracks,

How frostbitten hands in cold water burn,

And nature, cruel and wonderful, deceives.

Its promises, as thin as ice, retract.