The long-awaited
first snow has fallen

After finishing work yesterday
and coming home late at night
a single snowflake
drifted past my eyes
I immediately
looked up at the sky
but the sky was still

Coughing
I stepped outside and began making a snowman
Before I knew it,
Domino followed my footsteps
jumping around beside me

As the wind blew in from distant mountains
a tree branch, shivering in the cold
tipped its precarious snowdrift
over my head

Snowflakes trickled down my cheeks and neck
reaching my chest where they melted into water
that soaked my heart

Trying to wipe it away with a towel
I stepped back inside
Sixty years passed in the blink of an eye
I turned on the light
and booted up the computer
A pileup on the highway
fifty vehicles collision
worries about going to work
snowplow roar
The streets are quiet under the snow bomb
Thanks to the snowflakes
that swallow the world's groans
Even when temperatures drop below freezing
Time that doesn't freeze
flows on again

Still
I see the smile of the snowman
Wrapping around my tomorrow.