Last Sunday was a little treat for me. The cold snap that most of the UK was recently experiencing, came down to London. The heavy snowfall turned our streets into a white wonderland. Only for a few hours, but it felt magical to walk through the veil of large snowflakes covering all the familiar places with a blanket of pure white, quieting down the world around. Everything looked so peaceful and incredibly beautiful.
I wish I could say I would like more days like this, but it wouldn't be fair on those people who are affected by the harsh conditions. Those who can't get to the shops to get their essentials, those who are not able to get their vaccination, ambulance and delivery drivers, or those who have problems to get to work when they have to. So I will just treasure one Sunday afternoon that hopefully didn't have too much impact on the rest of the people in the area. It makes me appreciate it even more. And I will look forward to next winter, when we can hopefully travel. Perhaps I will be able to spend a week or two in a real winter wonderland, wherever it may be.
Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace.
I shall go shod in silk,
And you in wool,
White as a white cow’s milk,
More beautiful
Than the breast of a gull.
We shall walk through the still town
In a windless peace;
We shall step upon white down,
Upon silver fleece,
Upon softer than these.
We shall walk in velvet shoes:
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below.
We shall walk in the snow.
Elinor Wylie
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
Robert Frost
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
“We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,”
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
Oliver Herford
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