A February Blizzard

I remember, when I was young
Valentines day snows
Taking cookies to the man
who manned the snow plow
That blizzard was one
we will always remember
When our cheeks were red and rosy

Then several years later
Trudging through ankle deep snow
for what felt like a mile
Dragging sleds
Bundled in hats and gloves and scarves
Flying down the hill
Cheeks red and rosy

I remember
Traveling to the north
Skating across the frozen lake
Skiing across the snow
Sledding down the hill
Cheeks red and rosy

But now, as the wind howls outside
The snow shooting toward the ground
I'm inside
Warm
Just writing.
With warm cheeks.
Warm words.

A field of Snow

I slipped into thick socks and laced up the white skates, and stood up to face a field of snow. It lay like a sheet before me, so thin that the silver blades could reach the thick ice below. I stepped forward with my left foot and glided forward a little bit before stepping forward with my right. It took a bit, but before long I was gliding across the lake like a swan.

The sharp blades cut through the soft snow, leaving behind a trail of cut marks on the lake. In the summer, you could never see the lake like this. You could never look back and see the cabin from this view. In the summer, you would be drenched in water if you attempted something like this. But winter does something to the world. A white sheet has been laid upon the ground, and icy gusts are brought by the wind instead of relieving breezes. Water is frozen and turns into a substance as smooth as glass, so smooth that skates fly over it.

An icy stream of wind comes dashing by, nipping my nose and tugging on my ears. My fingertips turn white, and I massage them as I continue to skate across the lake.

I stop dead in my tracks as the ice lets out a hollow groan  Before I know it, CRACK and I'm under. I feel like I am being sucked into a vacuum, pulled by the metal on my skates. My heavy peacoat pulls me under, but I paddle. It seems endless as my lungs run out of air to breathe. I continue to paddle, determined not to drown.

My lungs gasp for air the second the water breaks above my head. Chunks of ice float around me, covered with snow. I scramble to the ice, but it breaks off. freezing to my arm. The bitter cold surrounds me as dusk begins to fall, but I still have not succeeded in reaching land. It seems like so long ago when I was skating across the ice that now I pull off, stuck in the water that used to be below me,

I can't take it much longer, I am freezing, my belongings are weighing me down and my eyelids are drooping. They close and I feel myself floating away. I see my body disappearing beneath the surface of the water after letting out a strangled cry. I feel so young, so sad, so vulnerable, but I'm warm. I'm wrapped in a blanket of angel wings and I just....

fall...

asleep...