You write to me, sweetest, with envy

Of "zephyrs" and "summerlike stars;"

You say women, horses, and men vie

In chorus of croups and catarrhs;

You picture me safe from the snarling

Of Winter's tyrannical sway.

This isn't, believe me, my darling,

The Mediterranean way.

You rave of the "shimmering light on

An ocean pellucidly fair."