Forecast: Memories

A Sestina poem (see "The Sestina"  for the poem format) written for the December 2009 quote prompt for the "Quotation Inspiration: Official Contest" .

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."
~Andy Goldsworthy

Winter skies leaden and pregnant with snow.
Like leaves before, the flakes gently fall.
I smile as faces of parents and siblings
gaze back at me through shrouded mists of light.
Past memories rise like the morning sun
redeeming my mind, long hard and cold.

And so it begins, slate skies above cold,
reluctantly loose the first crystals of snow.
Colliding recklessly, untouched by the sun,
the crystals, like thoughts, coalesce as they fall,
and form fond memories bringing to light
Patty, Rick, and David--my siblings.

Rooms must be tidied by impatient siblings,
before we may venture out into the cold.
Waiting is tough for young hearts to be light,
distressed we'll miss this magical snow.
Grumbles greet parents, though grace doesn't fall
certain our fun will dissolve with the sun.

"No, Jace," says Mom. "Don't fuss 'bout the sun.
Just finish your chores, you and your siblings;
the forecast says twenty more inches will fall.
Then, when your clothes are wet, heavy and cold,
your boots and sleds caked with ice and snow,
I'll be here with hot cocoa. Look for the light."

Finished at last, we look out to the light,
through frost-covered panes lit up with the sun.
Bright colored mittens protect hands from snow.
Hard Christmas winds blow fierce on garbed siblings
as each one skips gaily out into the cold.
A veil of white hides the last browns of fall.

The boys stand, sleds swooshing down. "Ow!" We fall.
"Pretty bad, guys." Patty laughs, her voice light.
Sprawling half buried in banks of wet cold,
we rise once again in the reddening sun.
I close my eyes recalling dear siblings,
and wondrous memories of winter's first snow.

The magic of new fallen snow, flakes caught on our tongues as they fall,
The worn, red faces of siblings, ablaze in the day's failing light.
We return with the evening sun, Mom's cocoa warms us from the cold.

Lines: 39

         Sestina Format:
Stanza 1: snow, fall, siblings, light, sun, cold
Stanza 2: cold, snow, sun, fall, light, siblings
Stanza 3: siblings, cold, light, snow, fall, sun
Stanza 4: sun, siblings, fall, cold, snow, light
Stanza 5: light, sun, snow, siblings, cold, fall
Stanza 6: fall, light, cold, sun, siblings, snow
Tercet: Line 1: snow, fall
           Line 2: siblings, light
           Line 3: sun, cold