Walking With Grown Children In Snow
Walking With Grown Children In Snow
We wondered at the whites
of water–
snow on pines,
rapids on rock,
ice in the air–
water in all its falls
around us
who walked uphill
by a mountain vly.
In a lavender later,
as night itself fell,
snow lit the darkness from both below
and above,
glow rising from the ground cover
to the low cloud dome
in a silent overarching hum,
and too, quick darts of it–all those
tiny webs
we leaned into, a beat of slight stings
in the wind.
As we headed back,
the wind behind us,
I felt I could walk forever
in the cold dark pale that overlay earth,
road, tree, sky, me–keeping us all
afloat–
until I said (aloud) how I understood those who freeze thinking
they might just lie down, only
for a little,
and you both laughed, and I could almost make out
your turns towards me–and each of you said, come on,
and held out
an arm,
and I protested that I wasn’t about
to lie down,
and you laughed again, but slowed,
keeping me
in the middle, for
even the cloud mirror
had now disappeared; there was only
there–there–there–
a flash
at every footfall, and even
that hardly lasted
but till the next.
*********************************
A foot of snow here this past week, melted now. (I sadly did not take many photos, so this one is from last year.) I am posting this for With Real Toads Open Link Night, hosted this week by Marian of Runaway Sentence. Process note–a “vly” is a mountain stream.
Explore posts in the same categories: poetry, UncategorizedTags: "Walking With Grown Children In Snow", different falls of water poem, http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com, let it snow, manicddaily, snow poem
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ManicDDaily 
December 1, 2014 at 10:03 am
Such a wonderful combination of narrative and descriptive – you captured the external and internal environments here.
December 1, 2014 at 10:14 am
soft snow and footprints……………
December 1, 2014 at 10:16 am
I love this- the way presence to what surrounds us brings us to the experience of Presence. And to share this with your loved ones elevates it even further. I felt right there.
December 1, 2014 at 10:19 am
I long for snow to come.. none here yet.. but as soon as it comes i know that it’s downhill till the spring.. cold can be such both pleasant and dangerous… but there is s sweetness of the white that I long for..
December 1, 2014 at 11:50 am
This is a very evocative word picture, very Impressionistic in that it seems to be painting light with words, for me–I see snow so seldom here, but remember it as a living force in my childhood. I love the way this flows and falls in structure and in sense, complimentary to the images and language. (And I had to look up vly, so bonus points there. ;_) )So glad to be back reading your poetry, and so glad you are back writing it, k.
December 1, 2014 at 1:49 pm
Oh such a loving, happy moment, captured!!!! Loved this.
December 1, 2014 at 3:02 pm
I’m in like Flynn…. You just lolled me into the most beautiful world. Let’s stop and build a snow man….
December 1, 2014 at 8:52 pm
The beginning of the third paragraph (for me) is just enchanting and brings a humorous touch to a very poignant poem.
December 1, 2014 at 9:50 pm
ah we only got an inch at most…i want some more…smiling at the interaction between you and the kids…when you said that about laying down..ha…its and interesting shift in roles….
December 1, 2014 at 9:53 pm
Yes–actually I wrote a much longer different piece, but it was quite funny because I was completely blind for a while–given my glasses in the snow–and they were super sweet and helpful–finally, I just took my glasses off because even super nearsightedness was far better than looking through the fog on the glass. Hope all well, Brian. k.
On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 9:50 PM, ManicDDaily wrote:
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December 2, 2014 at 5:50 am
loooove this, and totally get it! the idea of lying down there (sometimes i have a similar thought, about yanking up the emergency brake while driving fast), and i especially love the tenor of the conversation with adult children. really authentic and good. genius phrases: lavender later, overlay earth. love it.
December 2, 2014 at 6:30 am
This is so wonderful, Karin, so buoyant in winter darkness. Great how your spirit lingers there — so fine, how your children keep you between them, the living memory. Loved it.
December 2, 2014 at 5:55 pm
There’s a delicacy to the way your phrases fall down the page that matches that of snow–beautiful poem.
December 3, 2014 at 11:05 pm
Beautiful, Karin…there’s snow all around me when I look outside, and I love your reference to the colour of snow…white by day and lavender later.
K
December 12, 2014 at 2:13 am
fabulous, k, for all those reasons pointed out above, and for the gentle ease with which you share this world ~
December 12, 2014 at 6:27 am
Thanks. k.