Snow Thoughts -- a new poem

Arguing with my Neighbor while Walking the Dog on A Snowy Day

I really don’t want to go out in the snow

But my dog keeps on barking, so walking we go –

I’ve put on her coat and her booties because

She needs the protection from ice in her paws,

And I’m wearing two pairs of gloves on my hands

The weather is almost more than I can stand.

The wind is now blowing, it’s cold and it’s wet

The past couple of days have been the worst yet.

My neighbor says this isn’t from global warming

We’re just subject to some unusual storming.

He says he remembers – he claims it’s no yarn

The winter the snow reached the roof of his barn.

If I think that the weather is some kind of mystery

He can supply an appropriate history.

I don’t try to argue, I don’t contradict him

(it’s never his fault and he’s always a victim).

If I say that last year was the hottest one yet,

He’ll say that the problem is people forget

How very unbearable August can be

It’s harder to tell cause we’ve all got A.C.

Just ask the old-timers, they’re sure to tell

The way summer used to be hotter than hell,

And winter was even much colder than now,

He says from his perch on his under-used plow

Which he rides all around, he’s so happy to see

A winter that acts like they all used to be,

As snowy and cold as when he was a child,

Forgetting that lately they’ve mostly been mild.

And meanwhile I have to go on with my walk,

My dog is impatient with stopping to talk.

And anyway it would be futile to try

To explain all the damage we’ve done to the sky.

He’ll just think that I am absurdly naïve

And ignorant and that is why I believe

The conclusions asserted by leaders of science,

It’s all just a case of mistaken reliance

On people who thrive on pursuing alarm –

The earth is so big that we can’t do it harm!

Never mind that our actions have taken their toll

While our civilization burns oil, gas and coal

These storms are a sign of a change in the air

And I’m wondering if I had better prepare

To face a world radically different than now

But truth to be told I have no idea how

It all will shake out, how the world will be changed

And long standing patterns will be rearranged –

Already it’s different, and this much I know

I need better clothes to go out in the snow!