Her First Snow

Gemma Graziano

was the colour of toast.

She came from Italy

or Spain

or a hot country

somewhere.

On Friday

after lunch

we were doing paintings

and it started to snow outside.

Gemma stood by the window.

The white flakes sparkled in her eyes.

She clapped

and laughed

and looked at us.

She had never seen snow before.

We stood there with our paintbrushes
and our mouths open

and looked at her.

We had never seen

someone

who had never seen snow

before.