The Dirigible Balloon
Poetry for Children

On Seeing a British Winter

Listen to Lesley's poem ...
Snow smothers the contours of a landscape like doubt
And if you wake up, and look out, baffled like birds’ songs, and doubt you are
where you are
- That’s okay. It’s only snow.

Frost highlights the edges of grasses like icing dusted over pies,
And if you look out, and step out, crunching the edges
like crumbling dreams -
Never mind. It’s only frost.

Ice photoshop-freezes the water in puddles into the looming grey of skies
So, if you smash the shards with the heel of your boot and make one shard a blue glass dagger -
Watch it melt. It’s only ice.

About the Writer


Lesley James

Lesley writes for young people and less young people. Many of her stories and poems for children are set in Lesley’s Garden, where a cast of birds, beasts and minibeasts live. She loves playing with words - rhythms, rhymes, tongue-twisters - and telling real tales. Nothing is more funny, thrilling or entertaining than the real life you can see from your own window.