The Breath of Snow
I was told there is a land far away where it gets so cold, water falling from the sky freezes on its way to the earth and becomes something they call snow. This snow is made of tiny patterns, each one different from another; it covers the land and turns it white, so even on the darkest night, the way is clear before you. They say it is beautiful. They say there is no silence like the silence of snow.
When snow comes to this faraway land, the people cut down great, thick pine trees and bring them to their dwelling places, to remind them of the time before and after snow when the earth is filled with bounty for their sustenance. They take things that are bright and shiny and filled with colour and put them on the trees and prepare a great feast stored from the time of plenty, to be shared with their tribe. It is their custom to give offerings to each other and forget all the things of trouble and remember all the things of good.
I dreamt of this place where the snow falls. I dreamt I stood in the snow and as I stepped forward, the perfect silence was broken by a marvellous sound each time I put one foot before the other. When I sent the breath out from my body, it turned into a white mist; I thought it must be the breath of snow. My heart filled with wonder at such sights and sounds; were it not for the cold that chilled my bones, I might have believed I was in the world of the ancestors. I dreamt I stood before a dwelling place and by a strange magic, I could see inside it. I saw the great tree and all its glory. I stared and could not stop, hardly able to believe such things existed in the world of everything mortal.
I saw children, plump and rosy and thought the roots they eat must be everywhere and the animals the people hunt must be as big as mountains, for they clearly did not know hunger. I wondered if these people were always happy and free from fear, with so much to eat and such sturdy dwellings, with such fine cloth for their bodies and so much bounty to share. I thought there must be no-one who goes without food, or is left out in that sharp and shiny cold, no-one who is in need, no-one sick or sad without care. How could it be otherwise?