My Winter

Winter; it cleans up the world, gives her a new identity. It shows off Nature's beautiful flaws and perfect landscapes. There is no practical hiding in winter, every contour is seen. Evergreen trees covered in fluffy tufts of snow on each branch, layered like Christmas cake. The ground smoothed out, each hill and bump rolled together into one colorless plateau giving a semblance of an angels unblemished complexion. Ice crystals sparsely glinting in the sun, like little jewels strew across the terrain. Many times you can only catch the glimpse of quick movement of a hare or ermine, dashing under a tree to home, after hunting for a meal or precious item for winter storage. The dark blue shade in the surrounding valleys lead to a perfect contrast of the white covered peaks. Rocky edifice try to peek out from their winter layer, showing their strength despite the firn coating the mountain sides. The sky, deep and dark blue, with no ending in sight. Sometimes I wonder if but the thinnest membrane is between me and space, something  barely holding back the cosmos. The purest time of the year. The time where the Northern Aurora can seem to be calling down to Mother Earth to enjoy a color show, the likes of which can not be duplicated anywhere else. Light dancing across the sky, reflecting in the snow. You can almost hear the crackling of the display while it chases itself in brilliant color, never looking the same twice. Stars twinkling across the black sky, lights gently flashing off and on as if they are calling you. Effervescent tales of heroes and gods that guided our ancestors, trying to tell us the same stories. When the winter moon is out, the stage is lifted to another level. The ethereal light brings the crystalline sparkle of the snowy ground to a crescendo. The carpet of the frozen fields and forest dazzle in cold radiance. You can look out across the vista for miles and miles, seeing the variation of the mountain ridges, and low plains. This is winter.