And Winter said, "I'm just misunderstood!"


"Winter,a bad guest, sitteth with me at home; blue are my hands with his friendly handshaking" ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844 - 1900

They said that this is the most temperate English winter in years. The number of layers of clothing needed to preserve the 37 degrees of average body temperature has been noticeably fewer. I frequently left the house glove-less, scarf-less and hat-less. Heating bills have been much reduced. And I've been able to maintain my indulgent habit of sleeping naked.

But the smell of change is in the air....

I leave the frozen vegetables on the kitchen counter, forgotten, returning half an hour later to find they have lost but none of their chill. Walking indoors barefoot becomes unbearable. The suffering is upon us. Invisible giants blow mighty winds from the deep chambers of their frozen lungs, and the tears of winter clouds freeze before they touch our humble earth.

It is four in the morn. I just finished watching a movie and sleepily laboured past a window. The winter clouds are crying again. But alas they make no sound. Gracefully, their tears float down from the heavens and land gently and accumulate and blanket the earth with the purest of colors.

Snow.

The amber streetlight smiles upon the settling blanket of frozen tears as the witching hours pass, and our dark and cold and grey days of ill temperament are uplifted by a gentle radiance. Tomorrow will be a marvellous day. People will smile as they walk down the street. Faces will radiate the glow of the snowfall. Children will hurry outside to play in the elements. The miseries of the many will be temporarily forgotten as the purity of nature dilutes complexity with simplicity. Snow falls down to lift us up.

The penetrating chill of our bones will be overlooked this day. Mother Earth will be forgiven.

"Blow, blow, thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude" ~ William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616