A snowflake drifting through the air
I admire its delicate perfection
Frostily white, glowing softly amid
the mid-winter moonshine.
Tiny clusters of ice filmed over with snow
frosted with magical tiny icicles
Floating down, down, down to the earth.
I catch it on the tip of my tongue
Savoring the taste of new-fallen snow;
Yet with a small pang of grief
at the destruction of something so beautiful.

I trudge home through carpets of snow
Finer than even Persian ones
Soft, crunching and rustling beneath
the crushing steps of my boots.
The comforting chill and cold of the snow
clings around my knees, pleading.
Don’t go home yet, it says. Play with me!
And the lure is so irresistible
that eventually, I do.
I fall backwards into the white coldness
powder-fine snow piles up all around me
Envelops me like a chilly blanket.
I thrash around, laughing, chilled to the core.
Make pretty patterns in the snow
build snow-castles, make a snowman –
Rather crooked, but he’ll do!
I throw snowballs, bury myself in snow
Burrow into it, then thrash to get free
What fun!

At last, rosy-cheeked, out of breath,
I approach home. Home!
A warm, welcoming glow from the lantern
set in the window for me to see.
I open the door and collapse into the warmth
falling into a big squashy armchair
Just as I fell into the snow, ‘cept it’s warmer.
Flickering flames in the fireplace
spilling light onto the homely walls
Dancing, at play on the hearth in front of me.
I warm my feet, toast my hands before the blaze.
How good it feels!
Snuggling into a thick furry blanket
my dog beside me, so warm and alive,
sipping hot chocolate that warms my insides
spilling down my throat just like
the firelight spills onto the walls.
I savor the joy
of coming into the warmth from the cold
As long as it lasts.
Next day I will go out
and get all cold and chilled again
Then warm up! just like today.

I love all the glorious aspects of winter
the Yuletide season, time of mirth
Joy and blessings all around
because Christmas is coming, you know!
But what I love best
Is the cosy feeling of going
from cold to warm
and then the wild recklessness of
warm to chilling cold
and then doing it all over again.
Summer’s too hot for me!
But in winter you can have both,
Hot and cold glorify each other by turns
That’s what I love about winter!