Falling slowly

March 5, 2010

I am grateful, today, for the snow
that falls
slowly
but persistently

it wipes out the gray
and replaces it with white

it mutes the sound
of everything that goes unsaid

yesterday the news came
that a boy would not come home again
that a son
a brother
a cousin
an uncle
a nephew
a grandson
a friend
would not come home again

the emptiness is deafening
but the frozen flakes fall
accumulating slowly
and fill it until
it is not empty
just silent