Awoke this morning to six inches of newly-fallen snow
lightly blanketing the ground with silent beauty and grace,
asking nothing yet giving much in return - water to a thirsty
forest, shelter for ground creatures who otherwise remain targets
in the sharp eyes of soaring raptors or scavengers traveling on foot
across these woodlands in every season;
Hiking up the hill into the piñon and Ponderosas, the ground is
generously scattered with sparkling diamonds, but try to capture them
and they morph into something other than themselves; like fireflies
years ago in New England, they remain an anomaly, a gift,
a thing best appreciated as they are, not as a treasure to capture
in order to possess, the eye is drawn to them on Their ground,
in Their environment;
Just imagine if all humans understood that a wilderness encounter
in and of itself can simply be a blessing to observe and behold
while we take in a sight rarely glimpsed without engaging conditioned
responses, must have, possess, even diminish, whether it be by snagging
a trophy from a rare animal or scooping up a handful of snow diamonds;
No ring made of pressurized carbon set upon a young bride's hand
can ever take the place of these shimmering crystals refracting
sunlight onto this well trodden path; nearly every week, I discover
something else I had not seen before, whether an arrowhead or a twinkling
bit of rhodochrosite or yesterday's sterling silver spoon ring, likely lost
by some hippie back in the 'sixties, missed and not reclaimed,
becoming another's treasure like my great aunt's sardonyx ring slipping
from my youthful finger into a horse manure pile on a lake in Maine
to be found, perhaps, one day in a future I cannot begin to fathom.
Cedar in the snow ~ bj 2024
Brilliant! So many layers of thoughts mingle here.
Thanks, my friend. 🙏💜
Thanks, Balroop! 💓
I like the idea of lost treasures being found. I’ve been on both ends. And I agree–we spend much too much time documenting things instead of experiencing them. (K)
Yes! You’ve got it! 😍🙏
Lovely imagery, Bela. I love the magic of snow crystals!
Aren’t they something?! 💕
Bela you’ve done it again.
Wonderful.
Funny thing, by the end Tubularsock had to zip up his coat and break open the rum!
Haha, well, don’t go pouring that onto snow diamonds! Oh wait, you probably wouldn’t waste it! Happy New Year, Tube! ☮️
A beautiful post Bela ❄️🙏🏻💎
Thanks, Val. 💓