During winter, you will find a complex village of snow forts at the Elementary School. The children look like industrious, colorful ants on the white hills. This poem is dedicated to anyone who was ever obsessed with a snow fort.  

Snow is the happiest weather of all!

What else comes from the sky that you can shape into a ball?

What else softens the blow when you fall?

And the greatest thing of all . . .

Is BUILDING A SNOW FORT when the snow is thick.

You need just the right snow – the kind that will stick.

Then work as a group – everyone has a role.

The more people you have the faster it goes.

Some people dig and some people carry.

There’s so much to do – the jobs can vary.

Some people are good at making balls and cones.

Others make slides and tunnels and thrones.

You want something fancy like ice crystals or snow lace.

So you trade with your neighbors who have a nice place.

When school is over and it’s time to go home

You think of your fort unguarded and alone.

Do animals hang out there while you’re asleep?

If it snows a lot will it be too deep?

The first thing you do

When you get back to school

Is check on your fort

To make sure it’s cool.

You have to spruce it up and fix damaged spots.

You learn of neighboring forts and their sinister plots.

One day it’s destroyed and you get real mad.

But after awhile you’re not as sad.

You have to move on – after all it’s just snow.

You decide to rebuild, but this time you’ll know

That snow forts don’t last.

They‘re not meant to stay.

They change every day

And then fade away.

You build them and love them.

You make them with friends.

But like all good things

They come to an end.

Contributed by Lisa Hay