Winter for Nostographers

There is snow here, but not like in New York (can anything here ever be compared to its counterpart in New York?).  I miss snow days in New York:  the excitement in the grocery store as people line up for their provisions; the quiet cleanliness of the streets, punctuated only by children sledding and grown-ups skiing right down the middle of them; the comradely delight of the citizens at the unwonted pleasures shared in the aftermath of a city blizzard.  Therefore, I loved this poem on today's Writer's Almanac, and especially the image of Orpheus descending into the subway.  I wish I'd thought of that one myself.

City Scene in Snow

After sledding in the park's deep snow,
the two sons refuse to walk home.
The weary father trudges along
pulling them home
in the sparsely trafficked streets
snow still falling.

At times the kids fall off, laughing,
not wanting the day to end.

~

Hushed streets except for the
rumble of the subway.

Out of the corner of his eye
the father spies Orpheus

with guitar case, descending
the dark steps, off to reclaim lost love.

("City Scene in Snow" by Jonathan Greene, from Distillations and Siphonings. © Broadstone Books, 2010. Above:  André Kertèsz, Washington Square Park, 1954.)