A NEW HOPE

Yesterday at noon we stopped

at the square to bother

the fat snowman, twisting his nose,

a big carrot, and poking his eyes,

a pair of batteries. Each of us slapped him

a couple of times, to break his heart

so he wouldn’t dare come to Boston again,

would take away the snowbanks

that were almost 6 feet high.

But this morning the TV announced

that it has snowed 102 inches to date —

with 5 more inches, it will break the record.

All of a sudden we got excited again,

chatting about the imminent snowstorm

and hoping it will be heavy enough.