You’d think, looking out across the vast expanse of snowy
meadow that snow would be the great concealer, covering every sin of autumn.
You would be wrong. Snow is, instead the great revealer, carrying on its
surface the calligraphy of bird feet, the black dot trail of infinitesimal seed
dispersal, the tracks of leaf travel refrozen in small puddles of melt. On its
surface are scrawled the death stories of bloom and blossom, the life stories
of mole and mouse, the travel journals of fox and coyote.
Snow reveals man’s impatience with weather where it is
heaped, gravel-stained, along the roadsides and pushed impatiently back against
the banks of pond ice. It recounts, in rounded belly and stony eyes, the story
of a child at play and bears traces of snowshoe and ski with grace.
Nothing under the snow is unknown, only seen in another
form. Boulders sleep under blankets, bushes huddle in imitation of sheet-draped
parlor furniture, fence posts and tree branches become confections, frosted and
glittering. You could speak of snow as the great concealer but you would be
wrong. It merely puts the familiar in an unfamiliar light and reveals the
minutiae of the normally unobserved.
12 comments:
Pauline this is such a beautiful way to express, what I think, many of us who live in snow country and lie in wait for the long winter to be over, think about. What you write about is truly thought provoking and every morning when I look out to see what is new...it's always that I am in search for what new tracks have happened overnight and what has fallen onto the snow that ultimately stands out like a sore thumb be it a leaf, a pine branch or whatever...and thankfully it will all change in just a matter of a few weeks when everything comes alive again and a whole new world opens up before our very eyes. You write so beautifully and your words are so expressive and revealing ... I wish I had your talent.
i am envious your snow....i want to play in it...i wonder if i had it all the time if i would appreciate and look forward to it....73 degrees here....we are in spring already...everything it blooming and will probably be killed by frost soon...
Beautiful truth!
"....the calligraphy of bird feet....
the death stories of bloom and blossom.......the travel journals of fox and coyote." So beautifully expressed, and I can almost hear the hush!
Love that snowman!
Pauline:
A marvelous use of metaphor; to paraphrase Robert Browning, mans' reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a metaphor!
What gorgeous prose, Pauline. And you are so right: "putting the familiar in an unfamiliar light" is just what a cover snow will do.
Wonderful, simply wonderful.
I suspect that there's very little which escapes your point of view, Pauline. Loved this.
One of my favorite posts of yours - and that's saying a lot. Beautiful and eye-opening! And, like Brian, I'm jealous of your snow!
MMB, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the post. I enjoyed my visit to your site :)
Brian - and more snow has fallen since! It's the way winter should be.
Thanks, Tabor :)
Molly - I love being out in the snow!
JCN - I've never outgrown the pleasure of playing in the snow,
lol Marc!
Thanks, Kerry :)
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Char :)
Hilary - many thanks for another POTW mention.
Pleased you are pleased, Barbara - it was a sweet :)
The eyes, and the sensitivity, and the words ---
This is poetry incarnate.
(Not to mention the photos.)
Post a Comment