Merry Christmas one and all

Carol Ann Duffy has commissioned a selection of seasonal poems for the Guardian which you can read here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/18/carols-christmas-poetry?INTCMP=SRCH
I particularly liked Imtiaz Dharkar's Mubai Kissmiss.
Here is a poem of mine, which was selected by Carol Ann for The Mirror in January this year. Seasons Greetings to you all.

Snow light

I was born to the snow, brought

to snow light, the glow light of a late spring.

My first winter was all snow, ice floes

in the river, the Thames frozen bank to bank.

For three years I was beyond snow’s comfort,

beyond star-flake, hoar frost, rime,

touched it only once in a rusty patch,

as if roadside and rock-salted.

On Kosiuszko’s peak, it mended my snow-broken

heart with coverlet, sheet.

My uncle promised me a bucket of snow,

a bucket of hail, a bucket of sleet,

and in my six year old purity and Adelaide’s heat

I longed for the parcel, to grasp its cold deep,

crisp in my hands. I dreamed of snow;

snow beyond lamp-post and Narnia,

beyond Five’s winter adventures,

even beyond that cruel joke. Snow, a quilt

to lie down in, make igloos, eat.

Today it’s as if I’ve ordered snow; thick flakes

for you to mould and mountain, snow-shoe

and slide on. You won’t know what it is to be

blind without snow, beyond brilliance,

beyond its dazzling light.