The
snow is snowing, which it’s supposed to do in February here in Western NY. It is a kind of lovely snowfall, full and
white flakes determined to cover the ground and the trees, the bushes,
sidewalks and rooftops. If you venture
to go for a walk, it will gladly cover you, too.
There
is a Zen saying I recently read: "The snow
falls, each flake in its appropriate place."
As I went searching for the originator of that statement, I came
across the following from a blog site by Jane Goodwin: http://www.janegoodwin.net
These were a few favorite statements I liked about snow:
We
have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand … and melting like a
snowflake. Let us use it before it is
too late. — Marie Beynon Ray
Winter
must be cold for those with no warm memories. –From the movie An Affair to
Remember
Silently,
like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem. — William
Hamilton Gibson
The
snow doesn’t give a soft white damn who it touches. e e cummings
As
the snow continues to fall outside my window today, there is a kind of
melancholia that overcomes me. Perhaps
it’s memories of days gone by when I could actually “play” in the snow,
full-snow-suited-up and not worrying one bit about frostbite. Perhaps it is remembering that snow-shoeing
trek I took a few years back with Pack, Paddle & Ski up in the Candice
Hills and realized that it’s far easier to be at the end of the line of
“walkers” than at the beginning.
Although I must say that being at the beginning of the line allows for
one to view the forest untouched, blanketed white and shimmering with a kind of
magical glow. And you are the only one
whose foot will touch the top of that white crest for that one moment in time.
As
I bring my thoughts back into the “now”, and simply watch the snow fall, the
melancholia drifts away. The author who
wrote “The snow falls, each flake in its appropriate place,” took the time to
be in the “now” of that moment, not past, not future, and saw how the
snowflakes fell one on one in their appropriate places. All in all, it is only this moment in time
that gives the greatest meaning to my life.
