An Ode to London Winter

In my Nineteen Century Literature class, we have been recently studying the poems of John Keats, who was well known for writing odes. I read his poems, reflected upon them, and decided that my relationship with nature was strange enough without writing Ode to a Canada Goose. Over the course of this weekend a grey November turned into a White Christmas, albeit some weeks early, and I realized that my time to write an ode to nature had come. And so in the tradition of Keats and the great Romantic poets, I write an ode to the London snow.

London Winter, you have returned again,

Covering the ground with thick ice and snow;

You come to us now not as an old friend,

But as an enemy who will not go;

You have forced me into my parka now,

And into my boots three sizes too large;

The wool hat on my head must now remain

Or expose bad hair to all those around;

Winter, you’ve come with your iciest charge,

And covered the campus, houses and side lanes.

I’ll admit your arrival returns me

To some of the better days I have had;

As a child, snow forts I made happ’ly,

College snow days and traybogganing made me glad;

Winter, most essential to this region,

Canada defined by your arrival;

Winters through history are so misconstrued,

As united we stand as a legion;

Settlers before us fought for survival,

Without the imagined dog sled, igloo.

Adieu to you Autumn colours and leaves,

The bright markers of changing of season;

We face you, Winter, collectively grieve,

As you’ve limited Fall without reason;

But I will reluctantly embrace you,

Not a harsh word will be heard from my mouth;

Your cold winds and frosts you may now set loose;

My bond with you, Winter, I will renew,

Espec’lly if you can finally send south

A certain Western Miss Canada Goose.

Song of the Day: Robotic by Hannah Georgas