Tracks in the Snow

There is a children’s book, buried in a box in my basement, that follows night animals through the woods, under a moonlit sky. The animals’ tracks pull the reader along through the story, page by page. The ox, the otter and the deer leave ghostlike images of their passage through the woods.

As dawn breaks, the snow turns from a foggy grey hue to a dusty blue. And still the tracks remain to tell their own stories. My eyes follow the animal's tracks. It strikes me how much I revel in the beauty of the snow and its ability to capture a moment in time and hold it -- until the temperature climbs above freezing. the snow revealed the paths of the night animals. Now, right outside my bedroom window, the first fingers of light are stealing the darkness.  In its place, the light reveals its gift.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      A new day, a new dawn. And I am ready.