The Trouble with Snowmen

'The trouble with snowmen,'
Said my father one year
'They are no sooner made
than they just disappear.
.
'I'll build you a snowman
And I'll build it to last
Add sand and cement
And then have it cast.
.
And so every winter,'
He went on to explain,
'You shall have a snowman
Be it sunshine or rain.'
.
And that snowman still stands
Though my father is gone
Out there in the garden
Like an unmarked gravestone.
.
Staring up at the house
Gross and misshapen
As if waiting for something
Bad to happen.
.
For as the years pass
And I grow older
When summers seem short
And winters colder.
.
The snowmen I envy
As I watch children play
Are the ones that are made
And then fade away.
.
ROGER McGOUGH