The South, yea, even the Coastal South was visited by Winter this month;

Wailing winds, grey blue lowering clouds,
A days anxious vigil,
Finally fruitful,
Tiny, icy, barely discernible crystals of snow sifting down gently and quietly,
A dusting of sweet light on trees and roofs and cars glows over night.

Dawn, the clouds backlit and barely blue,
Bemused, by my dormer window,
I sip coffee and watch the wind ripple across the sleepy roof
like a snoring breath
lifting sparkling swirls of snow skyward to dance off
with each blustering exhale.

Doors open up and down the street.
Shovels compared and shared,
Sidewalks slowly emerge and converge at the edges.

No school, sports, homework.
Snow, briefly,
more alluring than warm homes, video games, tv
brings kids out to laugh and play.
Together,
With sand buckets and shovels and
A ramp for boogie boards they surf the snow.

Chicken soup is the plan for dinner.
Evening.  I turn and am bereft of breath.

We miss our #1 Son on days like this.

One of our favorite songs by Anuna –  Well, the Anuna link was constantly being removed, so this is Orla Fallon singing Winter, Fire and Snow.

In winter fire is beautiful;
Beautiful like a song.
In winter snow is beautiful;
All of the winter long.

And you, little son come safely home
Riding the tail of the wind.
May you always come this safely home
In winter, fire and snow.

The day gets dark uneasily;
Darker and darker still.
And you are gone to Carnevale,
And I feel the winter chill.