Threat of Weather

We know we can outlast the weather
the two of us, it has stormed before.
We have been through worse times together
and not turned back, ice seals the door

while the wind throws angry floods of snow
in malediction against our walls
and tries to blind a clear window
through which, we hope, the warm light falls,

such as it is, for you to see
if you are out in the dark. We give
what comfort there is in knowing we
are willing to show you where we live.

As if to defy the wind I poke
the burning logs, the rising cry
of a startled fire through the chimney’s throat
drowns out for a moment the wind’s reply.

Let the house shake, our fire and light
still prove to us, as the books contend,
that two in love can accept the night
and not be afraid how it will end.

I learned resistance from a heart
of oak that lay charred in the grate,
it was in the fire from the very start
and still is solid. It’s getting late

but here I’ll say at the risk of turning
a first rate farmer into a dunce,
it kept back enough for another burning
it didn’t let everything go at once.