Snowpocalypse 2011

It isn't as rare as it seems to have snow or ice in Atlanta.  Honestly, there has been at least one major winter event since I moved here in 2003.  But this week we've been hit by an event that no one here ever remembers seeing.  Businesses have been closed for two days.  Roads are icy and eerily empty (thankfully).  Adults turn in to children going outside to sled and build snowmen. 

Of course, for me this kind of winter weather speaks of the journey of Persephone.  The deeper she descends the harsher the winter for us as her mother mourns her leaving. But my favorite winter prayer is not for Demeter nor Persephone, but Zeus her father.  This is by Alcaeus, a contemporary of Sappho. 

Rain falls from Zeus, and out of the sky a great
winter storm comes; the streams are frozen
[two lines missing]
Defy the storm, lay wood upon
the fire, mix the honey-sweet wine
unstintingly, and about your temples
place a headband of soft wool

I will defy the storm indeed.