4 OCTOBER 1963, Page 33

Belief in Winter

Today I believe in winter,

In perpetual cold, and the, certainty of death; In premonitions, beading the wires like birds Parcelled in ice, choked by their frozen breath.

I think tac cold is to blame for everything. Responsibility of any other kind is locked In a huge glacier, so that as we signal And make faces, we lose contact.

Of course, we survive; sitting by stoves That roar gently, rtnd putT out hot air.

But the hearth is small, outside

The cold air waits confidently for the traveller.

Children make slides, women battle with stiff sheets,

,Newsreels select the item which amuses.

The fact remains though, all journeys are risky; In winter we keep to our own houses.

PI-III.IP 05K IS