The snow continues to fall in our Lakeshore community and I have begun to hear those around me expressing hope for warmer weather. One of my professors begins each of our classes with an attendance question. Last week’s question was: what is your favorite thing about winter? One of my classmates replied saying, “my favorite part is when it’s over.”
A few people on Hope College’s campus built a snowman in our campus’s Pine Grove and reminded me of the joy associated with the winter, especially for those who enjoy spending time doing winter activities.
The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens:
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
My favorite lines from this poem state, “To behold the junipers shagged with ice, / The spruces rough in the distant glitter / Of the January sun.” These lines remind me how grateful I am on the days that the sun peaks out from behind the clouds. Last Friday I took advantage of one of those sunny days and headed for a hike at the Outdoor Discovery Center.
Comment your favorite line or your favorite winter activity below!