First Snow

Out beyond Earth’s frontiers... 

amidst the enchanted verses of the cosmos

stars conspire…

and the night sky becomes swollen

with rolling clouds, 

the air –– festive and alert

First snow begins!

Senses aroused.

I’m called to the window

to gaze up into 

a scattering of snowflakes 

quick and mischievous…

darting & weaving through dark heavens 

And all the world 

is hushed by wonder!

so light on its feet!  

so aimless & giddy in flight

gifting winter’s eloquent poetry

to the troubled realms below 

Gaining confidence…

a torrent of white confetti is now unleashed

hurtling down through

the amber glow of streetlights

to enrobe an unsuspecting landscape 

in timeless, virgin white

And somehow…in this pristine moment

the power of silence prevails…

the mechanisms of industry and progress 

grind to a halt, 

motors stop, engines shut down…

as magic assumes the world…

And here am I

transformed by this alchemy 

of frosted roads, icy rivers   

and bewildering sky 

watching snowfall…

falling the way light falls 

embroidering farms & cities & mountains

gathering on slanting roofs

and leaning tombstones,

collecting on scarf and cheek and hair

while the wind scuttles dispossessed leaves 

down empty streets 

A nameless joy passes through me

are we not blessed 

to feel the Earth at peace 

turning easily in its sleep 

beneath this windswept sky?

holding us in clarity and forgiveness

knitting a sense of wholeness 

to a fractured and restless time

Asking you to join me…

I catch a snowflake 

in the palm of my hand 

and we will listen to it glisten, 

feel its fragile beauty

and quiet longing 

for renewal

as it melts into 

the dreaming water,

then vanishes

into the night