The Year It Snowed in April

The almanac was wrong about everything —

about the spring, about the war,

about the two of us, if I'm being honest,

it never stood a chance against the thaw.

The year it snowed in April

everything was new again.

The year it snowed in April

we forgot that it had been

so cold for such a long time,

so grey for so many years.

The year it snowed in April,

we were almost without fear.

My mother kept the newspaper.

She kept a lot of things

that didn't seem worth keeping

till they were all that was left.

The year it snowed in April,

she made soup and didn't speak,

and we sat in the kitchen together,

and I think we both felt better.