Snow Castles

Fairytales we know, are for children
and so is the fable that somewhere
there exists a fairyland, where everything
is bright and sparkling and adventure
beckons and everywhere can be seen
smiling faces and fantastic creatures
soft and cuddly, a child's place existing
in fertile imaginations of a Neverland.
But wait, there are such places and they
are real not merely imagined, imbued
with fantasy by their very appearance of
a beauty so deep and ethereal they take
our breath away, and though they do
beckon children to come and play they
also attract those who were once young
to come and stay awhile, to be immersed
in the magical landscape that our very
own resources of nature unbound become 
when winter lingers and late, unexpected
snowfalls cascade to recreate the wonders 
of a snowbound forest with hillside trails 
down which children can sled and delight
themselves in the bosom of a benign day
where the sky empties itself of its late
cache of frozen crystals and the land
below opens itself to embrace it all so
forest stumps become kindly ghosts
and trees are thickly limned in white fluff
and we stroll, wonderstruck, reborn.