Answers in Snow

Third Place Poetry

by Ralph Waddell

Night falls, oh wanderer

Whither are you bound?

Snow falls in patient light;

Clouds drift lazily in and through one another.

Light dims as the sun nears his rest,

Filling the air with violets and roses -

Light oils crushing the azure spirits of day,

And opening the brilliant light of night.

Families of otter wrap and curl themselves

In the knot of warmest family love.

Foxes entwine deep in their dens -

Warmth of family starving off winter's touch.

Deer yard in the midst of the forest glades,

Does, fawns and stags together.

Lonely wolves call out to one another

And the high places and valleys echo with their song.

Mighty oaks standing naked in the forest night

Are cloaked in warmth by coats of ice.

Maples proudly lift their arms to the sky

And embrace the snow that falls to greet them.

The cottonwood flashes her prismatic coat;

Delicate fringes of ice decorate her limbs

Through the lonesome whispers of the wind

They tell each other of those who dwell in their shelter.

Spruce perfumes the quiet air

His spices are sweet and gladly mingle with

The essence of cedar, clinging to each zephyr.

They spread their promise of spring to

Pine that lets no load overburden him;

He lets his problems fall away and leaps for the sky again.

In silent majesty, noble hemlocks nod at the peace;

Their approval is felt by all who breathe the light of day.

I am he who dwells herein.

My life is caught up in this peace.

Though intruder I surely am, I am loved.

The harmony of nature is the song in my heart.

I am not a wanderer, noble moon and sibling stars,

I turn the page of this book.

And reading these ever-flowing lines of beauty.

Find the thing which it is my life to seek.

In this song of nature, I find myself;

For here I see my Master's face.