We’re climbing in the dark, in the snow. There are lights strung along beside us, strings of lights dipping between poles and branches, showing us the way – and of course the snow reflects back the light, so that it seems to be shining all around us. The texture of the snow is like loose sand, and it’s slippery, and hard going. It’s uphill all the way. If we look up we can see the stars, and the shape of a great mountain, craggy, pointing towards the sky. There’s a moon, too, not quite full, tinged with gold. A couple of people have gone past, heading downhill, sliding down on toboggans. Here and then gone a moment later. Our voices hang in the air, in that peculiar silence you get in deep snow. I think it must muffle any echoes, any resonance, leaving only the clear true note of one person calling to another. It’s beautiful here. I want to be here, I love this moment. I have always wanted to be here, to do this, and never known it.
Stars glisten on snow
Moonlight shimmers on mountain
Silence enfolds us
Toni at dVerse has given us this lovely prompt. I’m just back from Germany, and a taste of winter – sliding on frozen canals, sledging in the Alps. Back home it’s muddy, and damp, but the daffodils are out and there are snowdrops in all the hedges.
I love this. Snowdrops – only in Europe do you find snowdrops. I know they grow here but I can never find any this far South. I love your haiku as well. It is perfection and the way it caps off your haibun: “I want to be here, I love this moment. I have always wanted to be here, to do this, and never known it.” Simply gorgeous and true.
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Thank you. It’s always good when the snowdrops appear, and we’ve had masses of them this year.
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I am envious. but then again, we have a ton of tiny blue flowers now starring the grass – sumire – little jewels as the Japanese say.
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Oh, that sounds so beautiful.
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They are gorgeous little tiny bits of blue. I love the Japanese concept on so many things but these “tiny jewels” just takes my breath.
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Sarah this is such a wonderful write. The sound of silence here is so beautifully portrayed. I could hear it. Feel it. I got shivers and goosebumps.’Applauds’
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Thank you. I notice it every time it snows, really wanted to describe it.
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You did …and some.
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Climbing a snowy incline with lights to guide me is not something I would have imagined was possible. I will have to look for an opportunity to do that.
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A magical haibun Sarah, so beautiful to climb in the snow under a loving moon 💜
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You almost make me wish we had snow occasionally. Almost. I’d certainly take the silence though. Lovely haiku.
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Your descriptive phrases took me there. I remember as a child walking over fencetops on drifts of snow. What a magical world it was. Thanks for taking me there again!
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I’m not a fan of snow – trauma in early childhood spoiled it for me – but your description has made me long for a snowy landscape and a toboggan, Sarah! I looked at the stars tonight as I waited for my life to choir, and there were so many of them, I can imagine them reflecting int eh silence of snow.
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No stars here tonight. The clouds are right down.
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We had clear skies all morning, thick cloud around three and then this evening it had cleared again and there was a sky full of the blighters!
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Delicious descriptions of such a beautiful moment. You remind me of the wonderful gift that silence is, too.
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oh my….i can just see the ice and the stars and the quiet. this reminds me of winters in the mountains. gorgeous words.
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Oh the hush of snow, and the beauty of silence. Beautifully done, Sarah!
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That sound you have with snow is wonderful, a detail that adds so much to the story.. so much to love in nature.
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Thanks for the ride. I felt the chill. Went sledging with the grandkids last winter in the dark. They still talk about it. Definitely a unique moment.
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It sounds like a perfect winter holiday. My old knees can’t do skiing nowadays, but I’ve sure spent my fair share of hols in Austria going up and down slopes. And I agree that the snowy-silence is very special. It makes the slush and shovelling and salted grit worth the effort.
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