What is the sound of snow? *
There are some secrets that should never be spoken. I want to tell you, but if I do then I know the spell will be broken and we will have robbed it of its magic. Let me tell you this instead and hope that it will do in lieu: There is a silence that accompanies it. In this silence, you find a pinecone. In this pinecone, you hear a tree. And it is this tree that carries the largest sound. The branches are open in surrender. They catch as many flakes as they can. And the flakes keep falling. It has been hours now. An entire nightfall of flakes have piled up along these arms: Such sorrow. Such beauty. Such stillness. I want to ask you to be still. Be still now. Please.
Open your arms. Let it fall.
Another way to say fall is to say surrender. Another way to say surrender is to say snow. Another way to say snow is to say: when I hold a pinecone to my ear I hear the tree’s heartbeat.
Did I just speak the secret? I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. Let the snow continue to be unheard. Please.
*St. Johnsbury’s Newest Resident Asks