Imagine a blizzard,
a sod house--
layers of clothes, extra
logs inside, fire stories
and white bean soup.

Hot tea, oatmeal. Best
if you like the people
snowed in with you.
Firelight, candles, songs,
cold feet. Chapped hands
darning, knitting, whittling.

No clock, only deeper dark
and a guide rope strung
house to cow shed and
the birth of a healthy calf.
Mud season to follow.