First Snow

It begins again;
the white of snow on the open field
after the flock of turkeys dance
together in their loving way,
then depart into the arms of the forest.

The white begins
like a simmer of an idea,
hope and dread,
in the eye of the beholder.

We spot the first flakes,
almost an oasis in this deserted time of waiting.
The darkness threatens to devour all light
in the rationing of fewer and fewer days.

Those of us who have traveled
to the edges of never know
the hope of each glassy miracle,
falling, millions of bodies transformed water
witnessing the sky
as a child born
laughing at another chance
to live in the images
of God.