IT’S CHRISTMAS! So it seems the perfect time to share the following wintry poem by Saundersfoot’s Helene McKenna, illustrated with Dave Bolton’s view of the snow-dusted Burrows at Tenby…

What? You want to go out to play?

Do you realise how chill it is out today?

The clouds are threatening, dark plum and grey

They're holding snow, and there's simply no way

I can let you go out in the freezing cold

And anyhow, don't you think you're a little old

To have fun and frolic – AND your sled was sold

To a girl, last year, who lives down the road!

Why don't you stay in and play your games -

Takes no effort – and there are several names

Of friends you like to fight with – and maim!

Cos competition's so good for the brain!

Yes I see the afternoon has gone murky dark

And the skeleton trees are showing skeletal bark,

But the moaning wind scoops leaves in the park

Sweeping angrily round to press their mark

On snowflakes, which now are falling so fast

But I tell you this - they simply WON’T last

And you'll cry when they vanish, just like the past

Winters, when snowballs melt, however vast!

I know you like white crystals evenly spread

Begging your wellington boots to tread

Firmly and squeakily in an effort to shed

The pristine softness – Oh! There's Fred

With his dad and mum and they have a spade

WHAT are they thinking – I'm so afraid

They've lost their minds, around snowman they laid

A very long scarf which granny has made.

Alright if you insist that you MUST play out

Go open the door and give Fred a shout

Then ask him whatever is all this about

And can you join him, and I fear, no doubt,

That I'll HAVE to follow and wrap you up tight

Against frozen air, and stars burning bright

And the laughter and cheer which suffuses the night

With life and love – it's a Winter rite.