Frost Fractals

Sunrise today was an ice diamond in a glacial sky glazed over with a crystalline light. My dog was making smoke mountains, my own mouth was an O of chilling fumes. Dog and I were pulled along by a beautifully set landscape that had been chiseled out of stillness. At the end of the street the pulse of life was just getting going, cars were steaming and idling while ice maidens hauled kids off to soccer practice. The freeze-framed silence melted like a single snowflake on my tongue, my dog sniffed the changing air, then wagged its bushy tail as if plowing on through the softening thaw.