A Mid-Winter Night

Moonlight oft softens the summer night, but comforts are few, in the deep of night when winter arrives with its vicious bite, and we shiver to see our world turned white. Winter is cold, starkly black and white: be it at the noon of day or deepest night. Sounds ricochet, echoing far and wide, inducing the timid to shelter and hide. Glittering crystals - nature’s icy festoons, serenade winter with wind driven tunes. Snow squalls in plenty, allow no respite, seasonal conditions of a January night! Tinkling sounds, wild mid-winter chimes: musical serenade of the northern climes. Clouds scurrying by, set free their loads traffic snarls badly, on snow bound roads. Winds echo eerily through forest trees, like tortured cries of entrapped banshees. Red Fox scents a prey, prepares to swoop, but alerted cotton tail chooses to scoot. Deer seek comfort in the forest of the pine, unlike domestic cattle that warmly recline sheltered in a barn, with food close at hand, ignoring coyote marauders - a passing band. A Snowy Owl - silent night prospector, scours open pastures, sector after sector, listens for mice tunnelling under the snow sharp is its hearing, for all sounds below. Temperatures edge higher: a new arctic low invading our region, presages more snow. Deep skies sparkle with a myriad of stars: plainly seen are planets: Jupiter and Mars. Awestruck we marvel for hours to gaze at comets streaking by, in suicidal blaze. Northern Lights dance across rural skies, but over the city, their pulsing radiance dies. Such is the beauty seen on a winter night, when nature enhances the smallest light from a galactic display or little known star, whilst faint sounds seldom heard, travel far. Standing outside, well wrapped and warm, studying the heavens and their unique form, we may marvel on the allure of a winter night, and enjoy moments, that award great delight. Rhymer. January 2nd, 2018.