We look up and see the same moon
casting shadows on the ground around us
but you are high north and I am deep south.
The brutal vortex that blows her wrath,
freezes all warm bones in her path,
and hammers you like a pneumatic drill
is little more than a fleeting chill
that makes me pull on a sweater.
On mornings when you can even go,
you must first forge a passage
through encasing snow, scrape that car
windshield of its coating…crawling slowly
on thin ice, careful not to slip sideways.
Here, no ice coats anything, sunshine bright,
temperate days like your spring.
No flowers bloom, no green abounds,
nature there is on hiatus.
Orchids hanging under our ligustrum
are still bursting tiny buds of blooms.
Your birds fly here,
even your people.
Snowbirds surround us
until March or April.
Mary inspires us to consider different perspectives over at dVerse Poets: http://dversepoets.com/2014/01/25/poetics-on-the-other-hand/
Bodhirose's Blog 
Rallentanda
/ January 26, 2014Nice take on th different perspective of the weather north and south.I like the snowbirds and people heading south to escape the harsh northern winters and the imagery of the blossoming orchids…the two faces of winter.
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014Thank you, Rallentanda. We really are having a very different experience than the northerners…I feel for them.
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billgncs
/ January 26, 2014Nice Gayle 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014Thanks, Bill.
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Björn Rudberg (brudberg)
/ January 26, 2014The north and south of things – I have such difficulties handling heat and too cold – maybe that make me tepid (doesn’t sound good)
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014I have the same problem, Bjorn…I must be tepid too…oh well.
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brian miller
/ January 26, 2014ha. used to live in florida and def the traffic and population would change with the snow birds…i loved the warmth though, and the fruit…and….smiles….right now its freezing out, just saying….ha.
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014I remember that about you, Brian. This small town where I live probably doubles with the snowbirds…big flocks have flown in. 🙂 I get cold when it dips below 70…
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alan1704
/ January 26, 2014Yes, north and south, the everlasting divide of skin and race, culture and values. Snowbirds surround us, perhaps birds know more than we do.
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014Yeah, they have the good sense to get out when the weather turns inhospitable. They’re no dummies.
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Laurie Kolp
/ January 26, 2014Orchids hanging under our ligustrum
are still bursting tiny buds of blooms.
Ahh… I love that image beneath the snow, and what it stands for.
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014We really do have blooming orchids hanging in the ligustrum, Laurie.
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Mary
/ January 26, 2014Well, you have definitely drawn the differences between the north and the south, which seem particularly strong this year. We are trapped in that polar vortex, and I am tired of ‘forging a passage’ to where I take the dogs out!
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014I agree…such a different winter this year. Well, for all you people ‘up there’ in the path of those ice storms that just keep coming. Sorry about you and the dogs, Mary!
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Sue Dreamwalker
/ January 26, 2014Awww to have orchids hanging! instead of icicles Lol… Sending you much love Gayle.. xox
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Bodhirose
/ January 26, 2014We really do, Sue! No icicles here. Sending love back to you… xoxo
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Victoria C. Slotto
/ January 28, 2014And I’m one of those dang snowbirds, enjoying 90 degree weather but worrying about the drought we face here in the west. Love the contrasts in this, Gayle.
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Bodhirose
/ January 28, 2014I know you’re a snowbird, Victoria…just not a Florida one. I’ve been seeing how bad the drought is out there. It looks like much of California is becoming a desert.
And thank you…
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Rowan Taw
/ January 29, 2014As a Brit whose moved to the Southern Hemisphere I really appreciate the contrast in your theme.
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Bodhirose
/ January 29, 2014Thank you, Rowan. Well you’re living quite a contrast from where you came from. And I’m in the southern most state in the U.S. where we are mostly warm (or hot) year round.
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ayala
/ January 30, 2014Beautiful! I love this!
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Bodhirose
/ January 30, 2014Thank you, Ayala…so happy that you do. 🙂
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Anna
/ January 30, 2014Beautifully illustrated Auntie Gayle! The chill if winter is such a powerful subject for writing about since we can all relate to that bone freeze! Aren’t we lucky to be here in Florida with all the snow birds? 🙂
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Bodhirose
/ January 30, 2014Thank you, Anna! So glad you enjoyed this. Yes, feel especially lucky this year as the rest of the nation seems to have been buried in snowstorms for most of the winter. Even if we have a couple of cold days we can always expect to warm up again soon. xoxo
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Sherry Blue Sky
/ January 31, 2014Hey, kiddo, it’s the same on the west coast – we are accustomed to having very moderate mild winters – but this year has been exceptionally so, to the point where I worry for the trees of summer who havent had any rain on their roots all winter…….it is hard not to enjoy the mildness. But I do worry about the summer to come…….
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Bodhirose
/ January 31, 2014Hey, Sherry…I love when you show up! One of my brothers lives in Southern California and they are having a terrible drought…I guess you are in the same boat where you are. It’s a real shame. And we have had so much rain lately here…
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