There is a calmness
Like a Buddhist prayer
On the road
When it snows
And cars are afraid
To come down it.

There is softness
In the trees rustling
When the wind
Shakes it off
Which reminded me
Of my father
When he used
To shake off his boots
Before he stepped back inside
After gritting
The front path.

And as it gets softer
Like Andrex paper
Before getting crushed
Into ice
Leaving a hush in the sky
Of slight fog
The moment is mesmerising.

But I am still glad
When it is all gone.

(FROM 'RETURN TO KEMPTOWN')

Put your head against mine
On Christmas morning
Just before the Alarm goes off
And your cats start marching
Up and down in your kitchen
And remember what it was like,

Of the way Snow used to come down
Outside where you used to live
Leaving that taxi taking us to my parents
Going up and down that hill
Like it was trying to tackle
A ski ***** rather than a ride out,

In particular when I knocked off
All of the labels skidding down the road
Leaving us guessing all the way down
Whose present was who’s
Much to the amusement
Of both my father and brother,

And on the way back
When the taxi driver
Couldn’t get his taxi going again
And I had to help him
Push it back up the hill
In a attempt to get kickstart it,

Totally defying gravity

A lot like what your cats do
Every morning.