you awaken
no sounds can be heard
no chirping birds
nor scurrying squirrels
just quiet.
you shuffle drowsily to the garage
slide your still stiff hands through a coat
pull a hat over your tousled head.
slip your warm toes into a pair of boots
and reach for the door
grasping it tightly with your mittened fingers
and awestruck gaze outward.
you do not step out, not yet
nothing has been disturbed.
you pick your foot up and prepare yourself for
that first step
whoosh.
a perfect footprint now lies behind you
again, and again
creating a path
a path in the snow.