Crammed into snowsuits like overstuffed
sausages, rainbow colored scarves
hid determined grins. Clouds of warmth
billowed up from our bellies as we marched,
dragging wood and metal in our wake.

No path in the dazzling white ocean,
only instinct and children's screams
carried in the wind's ear, winding through
the forest playground, calling us forward,
full of careless snowy frolicking song.

Once at the sacred crest we flew
on frozen feet, bouncing padded bellies
on a wild wood mustang footloose
and flopsy mare, as the frigid white
rushed into our blinded mute senses.

After 75 seconds of this eternity,
we trudged upwards again and again
to swallow a dozen more flights of reckless
abandonment knowing steaming cocoa awaited
to melt us back into warm elfin flesh.

Cheryl Lynn Moyer Peele

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ski-hill-chardon-ohio/