A Mason's Valediction to Winter

‘Tis time to say our farewell

To icy cold and wintry hell

To all the piles of drifting snow

And all the frozen mud below

 

Goodbye to frosted trowels

So long to ice-filled barrows

Adieu to mason's tools which

Go with Ivan Denisovich.

 

Greetings to this warm weather

Which soon we hope is here -or whether-

We must endure another season

Of cold for no apparent reason.

 

For sometimes it is a mason’s fate

That Spring shows up a little late

Can I work?  Yes or no?

Not if we get another snow.

 

We offer Spring this benediction

While winter gets a valediction

For only block made from snow

Make igloos for an Eskimo.