COUNTING BLESSINGS

Locked beside the white Christmas,

Safe and sound behind the pane,

Colloquial speech presents

Its soft lick and chilly chew

In the form of the forecast:

Wild Weather Causes Deaths

Dollar-sized flakes and icy

Cocktails out there folks.  Indoors

We toast the warm, white bulbs,

The pickle-shaped ornament

Hidden in the branches of luck,

The happy hum of the furnace,

The dread witness of hard math.