A Gift from the South
Seven degrees outside. How can it be
that clouds float northwards? It’s not arctic air
that’s passing through. So then, is it the rare
Antarctic breath unwarmed by tropic sea,
though summer rules the south? Can that account
for such a strange occurrence? “Frigid breezes,”
declares the weatherman between his sneezes,
“up from the gulf …” Well, damn! (for no amount
of sympathy can cheer us). But reflect,
and don’t surrender yet to dark despair:
the season’s barely underway down there—
which gives us valid reason to suspect
increasing daylight soon will bring the heat
to those who dwell south of our globe’s equator;
and while they roast in that incinerator,
all here will hail the end of ice and sleet.
Julian D. Woodruff writes poetry and short fiction for children and adults. He recently finished 2020-2021, a poetry collection. A selection of his work can be read at Parody Poetry, Lighten Up Online, Carmina Magazine, and Reedsy.
Julian, the temperature here in Texas on New Year’s Day will reach 75 degrees and it will be in the low 80’s several days this first week of January. There was a brief two-day spurt of colder temperatures, but December was mild, if not balmy. I loved your thought and rhyming of “equator” and “incinerator.” May you have a warm and Happy New Year!
Strangely enough, 18 degrees above the equator, hee in Mauritania, October / November were the hottest months of the year, though after a short cool spell we do seem to be warming up again. I guess just like you’re affected by the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic, we have the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Desert competing to dominate weather patterns.
A poem to warm every weather-obsessed Brit’s heart, Julian. Thanks for the read.