My soul is like the brilliant snow
Which burdened fell one winter day
Upon the ground and lost its glow,
Soiled and trodden where it lay.

It lay there through the dark and cold
Until the dawn when sun did rise,
And grasp of spring last took its hold
To force the snow back to the skies.

It stayed there when the days were warm,
When flowers bloomed and grass was green.
It showed not during wind nor storm
And until winter was not seen.

My soul is like that brilliant snow
And, burdened, falls on bitter days.
Iniquity does dim its glow,
'Til purged by hand of Heaven raised.

Copyright © 1997 by Randal A. Burd, Jr.

Publications: Owing Mills, MD: The Isle of View, The National Library of Poetry, 1997; St. Augustine, FL: The Candlelight Poetry Journal, Summer 1997; Marysville, CA: The Poets Edge Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1997; Rolla, MO: Southwinds, Fall 1997; Abilene, TX: The Golden Wings of Time, Creative Arts & Science Enterprises, 1997; Pittsburg, TX: Mirrors of the Mind, Vol. 9, Poetry Press, 1997; Abilene, TX: Starburst, Vol. 6, No. 1, Creative Arts & Science Enterprises, 1998

First Place, Creative Arts & Science Enterprises, Contest #1, January-February 1997

Author's Note: Poems viewed here are the latest versions and are not necessarily word-for-word as published.