Awfully late, but I finally have some quiet time here.
No one has commented on the opening line, which is full of force and onomatopoeia; L2 does its best to keep up and succeeds; the trochee in the second foot of L3 slows it down as it should, considering the freeze, and is also a beauty (I thought at first a real reindeer was standing on L3, and the cap and mask were his face! Which I enjoyed, and still enjoy); and, as a blizzard-lover myself, I'm very fond of L4 (though at first I paused at "born blizzard").
[Note, I don't think the epigram adds enough to justify its presence.]
In S2, I admire the use of "crisp" and "pristine" in successive lines, and again the two successive stresses on "crisp line," which accentuates the crispness. This was a lesson to me, and thanks for that, Alan.
I simply love (again) L9; the sestet is lighter than the octet, and the final line draws me back to wonder whether love "pretends" or "believes." I suppose it depends how well we know ourselves, and who's doing the talking, but I've noticed I'm relatively blind to the elderliness of one of my oldest friends, now 72. It's a blindness with a purpose, no doubt.
Terese
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