Have You Noticed

Have you seen how the ice

coats the branches as they hang down

toward the snow covered earth.  A

cold wet sheath wraps itself

one raindrop at a time around

the fingers of the tree; slowly freezing

and dragging the tree to the dirt

that is covered with ice and snow.

Have you heard how the tree talks

between the branches; a clacking

sound of ice and frozen wood

chattering amongst itself to itself

and for all the world to hear.  A

whispering of words and ideas and

imaginings passed on from twig

to trunk to those who pass below.

Have you noticed the feeling you

hold in the center of your soul when

you walk outside in a freshly falling

storm of snow.  That stillness that is

somehow not just silence and a not

moving, but a hushed heaviness

that is calling you into deeper places

inside your own self, places of the heart.