Look at me
Take my hand
Bring me outside

Don’t let go – it’s snowing.
Hold your breath – it’s silent.

With quiet steps, lead me under the pines.  Their shadows extend the night to forever.  As stone-still sentinels, they guard our midnight trek from artificial kitchen lights into the snowy abyss.

It smells cold in the woods.  That sharp scent that circles each nostril and creeps down the back of your throat.  Our skin tightens as it tries to shrink away from Jack Frost’s fingers.

Lungs burn as we exhale.  The silence breaks with a metallic ping as our breath freezes in winter.

It is one blink and it is a lifetime.  The trees fall away and small steps slip across a frozen lake that hides beneath a brand new blanket of snow.

The moon reaches through the clouds and the world erupts with light.  Each beam refracts off the ground beneath our feet and a billion falling snowflakes.  The night shimmers with life.

And there we stand.  Wrapped together in falling snow and life and the soundless night.  The clouds slowly wrap their hands around the moon.

Don’t let go – it’s snowing.
Hold your breath – it’s silent.

Look at me
Take my heart
Keep me close