Midnight Snowlight

Midnight Snowlight

The world is a negative. The night sky is dark, and the snow covered ground and lake are full of light. The wind is restless, changing speeds from quiet calm to howling rush in a transitory moment of frozen anticipation. A couple seconds to catch a breath of still air as the wind comes rushing up the lake from the south and shakes all the trees on the point. The trees crack and groan, and one clump of three trees grown together puts up a wood splintering racket as the trunks and branches rub against each other in protest. Snow falls from their branches as if a precursor to branches and trunks cracking and falling, but then in a half-second the wind is gone. It is quiet. Again. All is calm. The icy snow covering the land and lake shine in silence up to the few stars peeking from behind clouds. A cold silence. Then a low rumbling that gains in intensity as it speeds nearer. I wait with the trees in anticipation, and hold my breath in supplication to slow the wind as the trees thunder into each other.