I’m making demands on Winter;
I’m putting my foot down,
Insisting on Sol’s vernal vintner —
How earnest refusal should hinder
Or should slow
This whiteness from greenery put brown:
I’m putting my foot down,
In the snow.
So what if it’s merciless —
Earth’s tilt and precession,
All poles and impossible axis
I’ll continue to curse unless
Some sign of procession —
Khorugv unearthly and unwobbling —
Comes round and attacks this
Season of gelidity and of hobbling.
Sol – The Sun.
Earth’s tilt and precession – Winter is caused by the Earth’s being tilted on its axis, resulting in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres getting less direct rays from the Sun during part of the Earth’s yearly orbit. Precession is a slow gyration of the Earth’s rotational axis caused by the effects of the Sun and Moon and altering the position of the vernal equinox against the background sky.
Khorugv – (Pronounced hor-RUGV, U sound as in “root”) A holy banner suspended from a crossbar on a pole, carried in religious processions.
Religious Procession in Kursk Governorate
by Ilya Repin (1844-1930)
Unearthly and unwobbling – The motions of the Earth’s axis — both precession and smaller deviations defined as nutation — are sometimes called wobbling.