not many remember
a winter like it the
town bound in ice
no bread or milk
and in the sudden falls
the snap of breaking limbs.
one young councillor
cried shame
another, more maturely
praised the workers;
politicians may sing
to make life better but
they approved the budgets
cutting to the quick
essential funds
for salt and grit.
time now for townsfolk
to get out there and
do the job themselves
to clear their own paths
with brush and shovel.