First snow! The flakes
So few, so light,
Remake the world
In solid white.

All bundled up,
We feel as if
We were fat penguins,
Warm and stiff.

Downtown, the stores
Half split their sides,
And Mother brings home
Things she hides.

Old carols peal.
The dusk is dense.
There us a mood
Of sweet suspense.

The shepherds wait,
The kings, the tree—
All wait for something
Yet to be,

Some miracle.
And then it’s here,
Wrapped up in hope—
Another year!

A Child’s Calendar, 1965
by John Updike