Birds quickly flew away
through barren earthbound trees,
in hopes of escaping
the coming winter storm.
One crow remained behind
like a cold grim reaper
staring down from above
at foolish souls below.
And then the snow appeared
carried on howling winds,
winter’s shroud descending
on everything in sight. ~ms
Today I only took one picture of the snow, because the wind was screaming cold, the snow was blowing sideways, and I couldn’t find the point where the sidewalk ends and the road begins. After about 5 minutes of braving the weather, I decided the best thing to do was to come back inside where it is still warm. Although the sparkling white snow is beautiful, I would much rather live in perpetual summer again (Hawaii).
My 2 children spent their younger years living on the island of Oahu. They never experienced the changing of the seasons on the East Coast of the United States, until one year when we decided to come to Maryland and visit relatives during the month of February.
Of course, since I already knew what winter looked like, I was not concerned about the miles of leafless trees that we passed while driving from the airport to our destination. However, my 7 year-old daughter, who had never seen winter before, was completely unnerved by the dreary sight. “Mom! Why did we have to come here? I hate this place! Look! Everything is dead! The grass is dead, the trees are dead, and it’s cold.”
“Oh, it’s just winter. Nothing is dead! Don’t worry,” I said. “3 months from now, in the spring, the leaves will grow back on all of the trees, the grass will turn green, and beautiful flowers will pop up out of the ground. It will be beautiful.”
She shook her head, stared at me like I was delusional, and said, “Oh yeah. Right. Sure mom.”
She did not believe me. How could miles and miles of dead trees suddenly come back to life? And flower, birds, and green grass too? No way! Dead is dead. Obviously, this story about ‘spring’ was just another fairy tale, right up there with the Tooth Fairy.
How interesting! It was so easy for me to believe that the dead of winter was temporary, because I had seen it transform into spring many times before. I didn’t even question it. How difficult it must be to believe that ‘death’ can lead to life, when you have never seen the spring!
Before I Forget 
It is indeed, Mother Nature’s miracle!
What a shock it must be to see winter, having never seen it before.
LikeLike
Yes! I should have warned them, but I didn’t think of that. I took the 4 seasons for granted, never realizing that it would be a shock to see the ‘dead’ of winter for the first time!
LikeLike
That last sentence went well with the story. It had deeper meaning for me. Would you mind if I used this quote to illustrate grief and hope in a future post? Of course crediting it to you.
LikeLike
Thank you.
You can do that, Warturoadam.
I read your “About” page and I see we are close in age.
Winter is filled with allusions to death, and hidden within these allusions is life. Spring most certainly will come!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful. Sometimes it is easy to forget spring after a long winter, and we must remind each other.
LikeLike
Yes, Spring feels like a million months away in the dead of winter.
Hard to remember that spring is only 2 months away?? April is around the corner.
LikeLike
Great description of what it is like in reality when Mother Nature descends upon all of us with her mighty will! We all need to be reminded that is through death , true life is achieved!
LikeLike
Yes. BUT I wish life was like Hawaii…permanent summer, warm sun–no death. 🙂
Sigh.
LikeLike
Loved your photos and poetry on this post–beautiful.
LikeLike
Thank you!
But write around now, I could use some warmer weather!!
LikeLike
Mother Nature is fantastic!
LikeLike
That’s absolutely true! Too bad I am not as adept at shoveling….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marvellous to see the world through a child’s eyes.
LikeLike
Yes it is! We get so used to seeing things, we often lose sight of the magic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting, I never thought about the affect of living where there are no seasons. I suppose that would be true of children born where I live in Southern California. The only time we see “dead” trees is when there is not enough water… unfortunately those trees to do not come back… sometimes I do miss the seasons, but NOT the snow!!!!
LikeLike
The 4 seasons are interesting.
I have heard that spring represents birth, fall the ending of life, and winter death.
Maybe then, the constant summer of places like Hawaii represents eternal youth and vitality–heaven?
I don’t like the cold at all, but some people do.
Tonight, the weather channel is saying it is going to be ice and snow.
I will stay inside where it is warm, for sure!!
LikeLike
My sister moved to Hawaii about a year ago from Maryland and I think she is still adjusting to the idea of NOT having snow at all, but I do envy her 24/7 access to a nice warm surf even in the dead of winter.
LikeLike
Oh…your sister is so lucky!!
I can most definitely live without snow and ice.
I miss Hawaii. Especially in the winter.
It’s my most favorite place in the whole wide world. https://storieswithnobooks.com/2013/08/13/looking-down-on-heaven/
LikeLike
Yeah, I would love to go sometime.
LikeLike
Last photo is my favorite. Sometimes this happens in Finland also.
LikeLike
Some people love winter and snow.
I didn’t like all the cold weather…
so we moved to some place that’s warmer in the winter.
Problem is, in the summer, it is extremely hot!
LikeLike
Right. We humans are different and it makes us interesting. I worked, when young, on the Canary Islands (Spain), where it was warm and sunny mostly. It was not inspiring to me because there were not seasons. In my country, we have four seasons and I love them.
Personally, I am son of warm, but excellent winter cloths help me to help withstand winter. 🙂
LikeLike