winter thaw -- white fog

winter thaw – white fog

rises up, muffling black trees,

snow-covered white lake

Yesterday the sun came out and the temperature rose above freezing, melting the ice on the road in ribbons where shafts of sunlight slashed through naked trees. This morning all that cold moisture took to the air as dense white fog, limiting my vision to a quarter of a mile on hills and less than half that in the valleys. The snow-covered lake looks like a mirror reflection – white above, white below. I walk in a hush through soft snow, stepping on animal tracks blurred and spread until they are barely recognizable. Everything is muffled, both light and sound.