A Present?

My friend,

We lock the doors
No visitors, we have nothing to offer
Icy wind, we wait, when to go out
The snowfall covers it all.

Big flakes, we watch them behind the window
Happy we are for a day, two, perhaps three
Next the hard work starts
Snow should be cleaned up
If not you slip, fall, break a leg or hip.

Broken bones
Frozen snowballs in your neck
Shoes not protecting frozen toes
Footprints in the snow
What was white is turned into a filthy sludge.

We hope, pray that it will snow again to cover it all
Or will the thaw sett in
The doctors are busy
Ambulances driving back and forth.

Winter fun, winter sport, skiing?
Not everyone is happy and what
If you don't have money for a warm winter coat
Gloves against the cold
A hat to keep your head and ears warm?

How to stop the body from shivering?
A hot water bottle
The heater on if you can afford to pay for it
For many this is no longer possible.

It is about 6-7 degrees Celsius inside
The temperature of a refrigerator
It is silently turned off
During the winter it is no longer needed
If you don't have a cent to spend .

Electricity is expensive
Gas is unaffordable
Only a few are allowed to burn wood
Every piece of wood is registered
Burning coal is prohibited.

Solar panels have no sun, re covered in snow.
Who climbs on the roofs to clean them?

Close together on the couch
Alone behind the computer
Shivering from the cold
Ice-cold fingers tapping on the keyboard
Holding a phone

Winter toes, winter hands
The entire body screams for pain.

Benefits?
We eat more to stay warm
We gain weight

Warm chocolate milk
Extra cookies with tea
We pretend Christmas is cosy
For two days we turn up the heater.

No snowfall alternating with hail showers
Only these are not made of chocolate
Maybe it will freeze even harder tonight
Then we can't go sledding or...

Where are the skates?

On the ditches and floodplains
We shiver together
Hand in hand
The skates tied on
Forgotten to sharpen the blades.

We ignore the bitter cold
Later, tonight we crawl into bed
With a hot water bottle
Hoping, praying that the body will no longer tremble

Once warm, we will say "it was fun"
We sleep, dream
Duvet pulled over the head
A hot water bottle makes everything better

or.. a hot (alcoholic) drink

It's not real, we say
What you see in the movies is romance
Something the average person doesn't see
Positive thinking instilled in them from birth.

How often is there a white Christmas?
Maybe somewhere but never here
Instilled fantasy or as Bing Crosby said:
"I am dreaming of a White Christmas"

Covered with a thick layer of snow
even with a little bit
The world looks much more beautiful and serene.
All the violence is gone
Even,the battlefield is neatly covered

The world at first sight looks...
Perfect in harmony

_{and we smile and say "Merry Christmas"
even if we don't mean it}




22.12.24
For #pic1000 see @freewritehouse