A Warm Day in February

My step
more confident
on the path today
ice and snow
softer
and more ground
bare
passing near the pond
I see meltwater
on its ice and am brought
to my childhood backyard
it’s like a pond back there
Mom would say when
the water would pool up
around the big pine
and eventually freeze
then on a warm day
hold melt we’d
scuff and glide
on it in boots
in this memory I feel
a simple time
and my ability
to recall that time
might show that something
of that happiness
is present today.

written February 2023