It snowed once

where never does

in the City of Roses,

in the City of Sacrament:

You told me and I told you.

We remembered together

before we met

in the Pearl of the West,

in the Valley of Stones.

A winter wet and cold as River City,

my faraway home,

and you, my home, now far away.

Tiny flakes fell from you,

melted in the pocket of the winter coat

I borrowed,

wanting to hold them for you

a few moments more.

Came to rest on twin pillars

in the Indomitable City,

my faraway home

and you, my home, now far away.

Anniversary fifth,

now fifteenth and tenth,

and never since a winter so cold

in the City of Roses,

the Pearl of the West,

the Valley of Stones,

now my home,

and you, my home, still far away.

Your coat in closet,

the odd flake lands

on my brow.

I let it dissolve,

but do not shiver.