In This Season of Snow

The crisp cold air pushed itself into my lungs. I was breathing hard.  The trail wasn’t difficult, but the wind and snow made it a challenge today. Every step brought unique sounds; a crunching and squeaking indicated that it was snow beneath my feet.  When I stopped to catch my breath, I hear the strangest thing; silent stillness; I heard only my breathing which gave me a feeling- isolation. It looks so pristine and yet somewhat ominous at the same time; almost like the moment of silence just before the crack of lightening, but no lightening came. Instead, wind took it’s place and sang its song, whirling and whining around me.  It occurred to me that these sounds promote two feelings-freshness or eeriness, depending on the state you find your mind at the moment. The wind blew so fiercely. At times I almost closed my eyes completely and walked quickly trying to make it to a canopy of trees for shelter.  I felt a mixture of vigor and fear like there was a perfectly balanced beam holding tenacity on one side and respect of nature on the other. There was a hint of a dare in the winds voice. “Conquer me” it yelled, and then in the same breath whispered “let me invigorate you with my power”.  I heard it clearly and tried to heed it’s words.  I like the variety the wind offers. It’s movement among such stillness is striking. The snow that was once laying along the ground and hanging in the trees move at the winds command; there is no battle, only surrender, like a well choreographed dance . This allows me to see it’s intricacies that I would have otherwise missed. Other than a brave rocky mountain blue-jay, no other animals showed their face to me. The bird sat atop a tree, like a lookout, as if others were waiting for his signal that all was fine up above  “in this season of snow”. I’m sure if I could decipher his song, I would have heard exactly that; a beautiful melancholy tune of comfort among the cold.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZiL1PMF3xA]