That afternoon seeing
the small child play in the snow
watched over by his father,
I remembered I’d never seen a snowman
here.
In the fading winter light,
I went out to the same little plaza
and with a gloved hand
lifted three small lumps of snow,
delicately, each in one piece,
and placed them
one on top of the other
to make a tiny snowman,
something like a Jizo,
the roadside statues seen
in Japan to remember the souls
of dead children and the aborted.
Yuki no Jizo
Jizo of snow
It was Martin Luther King Day
in Martin Luther King Plaza
right beside the library.
January 19, 2010
revised December 25, 2010