SNOW DAY

On a day they did not predict overnight precipitation,

Three inches covered everything outside the house.

I got up early and kept to my routine, unsuspecting -

Unconscious - on autopilot, my mind anywhere but here.

I opened the door to head out and FROZE (pause three beats...)

Surprised by SNOW – and that way it transforms everyTHING.

The view startled me awake from my sleep-walk.

I came to with a gasp in the land of the living – this living land:

There are no footprints yet, there has been no shovel or plow -

The road, the sidewalk, the cars in mounds  - all covered –

Bare trees stand out in black lines on the snow’s gentle light –

And the house across the invisible street now appears nearer.

With a guileless grin I can’t wipe off my face (and don’t want to)

I step out, crunching like a kid off from school, into the different day.