MARSHMALLOW MORNING

(View from my back door)

by Leona Choy

While I slept soundly

snow fell lightly last night

as if God were in Heaven’s kitchen

making an angel food cake.

He sifted it in heaps over the hills

spreading it smoothly like frosting

over every bare branch

beating white peaks of meringue

against our shrubbery

and making a marshmallow mound

of my deck furniture

and my Chrysler in the lane.

He swirled powdered sugar

with abandon down our sledding hill

while all life came to a standstill

in our deep-freezer pond.

But today the winter sun broke forth

and our world is a marble cake:

chocolate chip mud morsels

dot our lumpy lawn and fields

cocoa-splashes mar the pristine purity

of last night's spectacular beauty

of God’s divine cuisine.

Our crusted, rutted road is brown-sugared

with maple syrup puddles.

A lone duck splashes about with delight

in the thin, watery edges of the pond

quacking at the melting sight.

Who knows?

(Certainly the weather forecaster doesn’t!)

God may send a second angel

to fly down and silently add

another fluffy white layer

and frost it again tonight

spreading a frothy, finishing fillip

of whipped cream snow

to top His marble cake

or silver-crust it all with slippery ice—

even that would be nice!

I don't dream longingly

oh well, maybe occasionally

for Florida's predictability.

Come what may, I'm here to stay

I delightfully thrive

on God's culinary variety

in Virginia country winters!

****