The Snow Man

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, That is what you hear at dusk, The sound of the wind that is blowing Through the shadowed pines.

The mind of winter, we must remember, No one would think of not freezing; The snow-covered trees and the light, We must have loved the trees.

For the mind of winter Is to lose the feeling of loss, In the coldness that lets everything pass, Not to think of anything brightly, The sound of the wind is all there is.

— Wallace Stevens, “The Snow Man”

• Wallace Stevens