A wintry night

It's stopped snowing, and after finishing a revision of one story, I decided to go out for a bit. I bundled up ? thermal shirt, fleece zip-up sweater, Nautica parka, tights, my trusty ski pants, Saloman gortex boots.

I was incredibly excited. I stepped out and checked on the White Rabbit, which had a thick - very thick - layer of snow on the roof, and banks of snow surrounding it. I went round the building to the little field between the four apartment blocks. Outside my window, the snow was certainly more than two feet, the wind blew quite a bit of the powdery snow and added to the pile. The snow was mid-calf deep along the walkways and in the field itself, I was knee-deep in it.

I trudged in the snow all across the field, and it was really delightful. I stomped, I jumped, I yelped in joy. Okay, maybe I didn't do the last one, but if any of my neighbors had looked out of their windows, they'd have seen a very happy and crazy girl dragging herself in circles round the field. I ruined the pristine landscape, my big boots making deep holes in the snow. I wanted to lie down and make a snow angel, but with snow that thick, lying down would probably just cause the snow to collapse all over me.

The sky was clear by then. So clear that the moon shone out and a few stars joined it in its path across the sky. I could hear the occasional car going by (I bet those roads must be a mess), and I could hear and feel the wind blowing through the trees and blowing fine snow and altering the slopes and falls of the snowscape. I bent down and looked at the top layer of snow - very much like the sands of dunes that drift in the wind.

I wish I could have stayed out longer and romped in the snow, but I had work to do, so I dragged myself back to my apartment, and settled in for the night. I was glad I made that little memory, perhaps one of the last ones I'll have of a wintry Michigan night.

December Moon

Before going to bed
After a fall of snow
I look out on the field
Shining there in the moonlight
So calm, untouched and white
Snow silence fills my head
After I leave the window.

Hours later near dawn
When I look down again
The whole landscape has changed
The perfect surface gone
Criss-crossed and written on
Where the wild creatures ranged
While the moon rose and shone.

Why did my dog not bark?
Why did I hear no sound
There on the snow-locked ground
In the tumultuous dark?

How much can come, how much can go
When the December moon is bright,
What worlds of play we'll never know
Sleeping away the cold white night
After a fall of snow.

~ by May Sarton

Posted by Monoceros at January 22, 2005 11:47 PM