How we cite our quotes: (Lines)
Quote #1
Keep it like a warm coat
when winter comes to cover you (3-4)
The speaker tells his beloved to keep his poem like a warm coat. When we have a warm coat, we can go out in the snow and play, we can walk for hours in the cold, and we won't freeze to death. A warm coat frees us to move around in the winter. In the same way, the speaker suggests that his poem frees his beloved to face the (chilly) gusts of life.
Quote #2
so it is a pot full of yellow corn
to warm your belly in winter (8-9)
Here, again, the imagery that the speaker uses suggests how he is offering freedom to his beloved through his poetry. Food keeps us alive, it gives us energy to do things. It allows us to be free and to flourish. The speaker suggests that his poem will also nourish his beloved's freedom.
Quote #3
It's all I have to give,
and all anyone needs to live,
and to go on living inside,
when the world outside
no longer cares if you live or die (24-28)
The speaker suggests that his poem offers the ultimate freedom for his beloved: it can free the beloved from the cruelty of the world. The poem allows the beloved to be self-sufficient, and therefore completely free.