Wintersilver

I jump, as the tiniest touch of a cold, wet nose touches my hand. Curled up, warm and cozy, in comfy chair. Deep in book, joints settled. Supper digesting nicely, a muzzy feeling of contentment as I glance about. Husband nodding on the couch. Daughter's room dark already. The cold nose taps again, more insistent. Why?! Just took you out a bit ago. A nod and another nudge. This time a whine adds urgency. I unwrap myself from the chair, dropping blankets, a sweater and glasses onto the rug. A twist of the doorlock and a tug on the ancient door, the winter air rushes in, cold and mean. I don't bother with wrapping up.

Tiptoe on the stepping stones, missing the still-damp ground that lies between. Hurry! Hopping, stamping, shiver.... I regard the moonlit ground, frosty, mossy, old. The moon shines bold, resplendent, uninhibited. The arms of the trees split into thousands of runnels, silvered escape into the sky. The air is crunchy, biting. And there is nothing, nothing, that can describe the stars. Spitting fire, winter stars that make your eyes water, so sublime. I'm a child again. And every other nighttime, in a life of nighttimes, circles quickly and rests quiet. Like a bloom, starting from seed and ending in seed.

The icy air drives me back to the door. Dog racing by. Cats scatter. I want to stay. Diamond shimmer. Deepest blue graduating to softest gray. Planets showing off. Hung like tapestry, but richer than antiquity. I'm pulled back to the warmth. But the earth stays like a jewel, suspended in a special place in my mind. "O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who has set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the world of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour...O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!" Psalm 8