The Silence of Snow

13 January 2024

Snow, a wisp of it, has finally arrived in Minnesota. It’s been an odd winter so far, with January wearing unraked leaves and blackened goldenrod stems. Squirrels still feasting in the backyard rather than from hidden caches. Still, I hadn’t missed the snow until I went out this morning for a walk to the river and back. It wasn’t the snow itself that undid me as it came down on the sidewalk ahead of my boot steps. Nor did I welcome the wind that carried the snow in its aerial dance while biting at the exposed bit between my jacket sleeve and my mittens. No, it was the silence of the snow that I welcomed back. The deep silence of the earth at rest. A silence that opens a doorway into everything left unsaid.