Freeze Frame

As kids throw off toasty warm blankets

Springing from where they were snuggled

In hibernatory safety

Hoping, praying for snow

A frozen fantasy land finally greets them…

Icicles line windowpanes;

Morning dewdrops frozen in time

Cascading runnels stopped midstream

Awaiting their savior the sun

To free them to run their course…

Mists of hot morning breath

From small noses pressed there

Trying t0 smell the magic

Leave a hazy fog of webbed wonder

On crystalline glass

As worshipful eyes stare in awe

At the world enshrouded

In a blanket of pristine ghostly white…

Excited children hurriedly dress

Before careening out the door

Leaving behind smells of hot cocoa

And roaring fireplace

As mothers ensure scarfs are snugged tight…

Frosted rime of frozen tundra

Crackles ‘neath booted feet

Running pell mell to sledding hill

Dragging flat bottomed racers

Pulled from abandoned storage…

Jostling, giggling, they clamber upslope

Only to race back down

Amidst whirling storm clouds of dancing flakes

Tracks of summer dreams left in their wake…

Bundled in coats and mittens

Young architects build fantasy castles of ice

While mini Gods create snow soldiers

Tasked to guard winter’s frozen queen

From the assault of snow cannons…

Laden trees laugh at the sight

Of joyful youngsters,

Shaking their branches to send

Showers of snow onto little heads

Where it slithers under collars

Sending shivers of delight

Down supple spines…

Shining bright faces turn up

Red cheeks puffed

As tongues dart out

To capture, to taste, mosaics

Of perfect natural sweetness…

Fathers pause in their driveways,

Momentarily lost in nostalgia

As they watch their progeny play

In winter’s wonderland

Before heading to work

In cars newly shod with snow chains…

Mothers bake cookies

And heat hot chocolate

To warm their offspring

When cold fingers and tingling toes

Bring them back to the nest…

First snow of the season

Celebration of a tiny death

Preparatory to birth of new life in Spring