Thursday, January 13, 2011

The darkness bites into me, crisp and enveloping, clarifying as only such a winter's night can be. I turn my face skyward to catch softly drifting flakes of snow, aglow with hidden moonlight, in no hurry to reach a resting place. The velvety crystals brush against me, cling to me, melt into me. I am infused with the peace of their wanderings, the intensity of their night, the eternal cycle.

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In another time, another place, I sat huddled in a similar night. The blue-white expanse of a broad valley stretched before me, connecting me like a lifeline to the mountains beyond. Coyotes called from one side of the valley to the other, their cries a plaintive echoing that hung for a moment before drifting off into the frigid air.

The night, the snow-coated winter, the calls and silences of the wild... all live inside of me.