In The Night I Dreamed of Snow

The soft still silence of snow
The soft still silence of snow

On the first day of winter,
 the earth awakens

to the cold touch of itself.

Snow knows no other recourse

except 
this falling, this sudden letting go

over the small gnomed bushes, all the emptying trees.

Snow puts beauty back

into the withered and malnourished,

into the death-wish of nature and the deliberate way

winter insists

on nothing less than deference.

Waiting all its life, snow says, Let me cover you.

– Laura Lush

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. Oh that is so lovely~thank you for sharing such a sweet simple poem. I do miss the snow. Where has it gone? I know it used to snow here…and alot at times, and regularly. Now it seems a rare occurence with our winter weather leaning more toward “wintry mixes” and ice storms. Snow….where are you, waiting all your life to cover us?