The Grace of Snow

 This morning brought this remembrance...

The Grace of Snow.

There is much 

of grace about snow.

The way it descends 

in silence,

often, by night, 

always unexpectedly, 

while we who slumber,

lost in dreams, desires 

and shadows are unheeding.

Falling freely upon all,

it brings with it a stillness

that blankets, hushes us

and draws us into wonder,

that first sacrament of childhood,

so easily lost, so longed for, 

so needed in its return.

Enfolding all it converts 

the harsh, the broken, the tired;

smoothing, covering, gentling

both land and heart alike. 

Sharpening senses it reveals 

the blessing of breath,

and invites abandoned play

and careful step 

in equal measure.

We, fickle hearted

rejoice in its 

sudden appearing

then mourn its presence

and, sometimes,

its seeming disappearance,

so often forgetting snow

was sent all along

to melt, mould, dissolve, 

descending to the depths 

to bring renewal of earth,  

by soaking soil and seeding 

with its tingled touch

a new, and even second, Spring.

There is indeed much 

of the mystery of grace 

about snow.