How Do I Love Winter?
(A Southerner’s Point of View)

With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love Winter? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My comforter can reach, when feeling out of light
For the early sunsets and time’s change.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most coldest breeze, blowing left and right.
I love thee wholly, with Orion in the night.
I love the crocus, blooming from the dirt.
I love thee as my heater blows another fuse.
The dryness of the air, the straightness of my hair.
I love thee in the South, which I choose
For all seasons. I love thee with the dream
Of snow on the ground; and, if Spann proclaims,
I shall continue to love thee as we move into Spring.