February Fog

There is in February fog an eventuality that must befall us all. As if the earth were vanishing, or one were going blind, the fog sets in, absorbing all that is familiar – trees, houses, roads, sky . . . And then the windows – like our eyes – glaze over gray, and what was once so clear, always there, we can no longer see – as if one’s memory had blurred to blinding snow, and then – hardest of all – remembering, that desperate act of looking back to grasp what is no longer there.