Around this time of the year I often remember a poem that begins with these lines:

In February
all of a sudden there’s a lot more light,
and it’s a warm light.
Snow melts off the roof…

The poem is by Kate Barnes, Maine’s first poet laureate, who died in 2013. Have you noticed how the light is stronger now, especially in the afternoon? The days are getting noticeably longer, and many of us are longing for spring, yes? I’m trying to resist the urge, though I do find myself daydreaming about trout fishing and other warm weather pleasures.

These days I’m trying to stay in February, and in winter, as much as I can. I’m actually finding some beauty and some quiet and some peace in these winter days. And Kate Barnes’ poem reminds us that these winter days aren’t going to last; though it may be hard to believe on a bitterly cold day, spring will be here before we know it. Later in the poem (you can read the entire poem here), she writes

Oh warm light,
couldn’t you have waited a little longer?
How safe we were in the dead of winter!
How gently we dreamed!
How beautiful it was to sleep under the snow!

We have a raspberry patch in our back yard, and I took this picture of the canes under a foot of snow after the big storm we had not long ago. A foot of snow is a beautiful blanket over tender roots; it keeps them from being frozen and dried out by cold winter winds. And isn’t a snow day, for many of us at least, a welcome reprieve from the usual schedule, an invitation make pancakes, or play in the snow, or just sit by a window and watch the flakes fall?

The dead of winter offers a time of quiet that can be harder to find when the days are longer and warmer. I’ve been reading more, and moving more slowly, which has been a balm and a blessing. I’m not sorry that the days are getting longer, no. But neither do I want to fast-forward through these winter days. They will be gone soon enough.

Thank you, Kate Barnes, for the reminder to be here now. For your blessing on these winter days; for your invitation to dream and feel safe and secure in these winter nights. Winter blessings, friends.