This poem was recently revised, and because it never appeared on the blog, it is now posted out of chronological order.

Love in a Cold Climate

Jan 29 2002

Shiver replaced

by warm embrace

through layer after layer.

The conundrum

of winter love.

The ordeal

to peel,

tedium

to come undone

when naked flesh congeals.

All that layering

so frustrating to unveil.

Cocooned parkas lumpy

curves smothered numbly

desire cannot touch.

Clumpy boots are laced

and mittened hands chaste

and woolen mufflers draped,

disguising one from the other.

But passion never may

be left to cool.

The urgency

of touch and stroke, caress and hope

the fire that glows

within.

The lamp turned low

the shadows dance

the solar winds race,

the northern lights

the endless night

of Aphrodite’s praise.