By Jean Ponzi
Snow Ode
One of my all-time favorite things in life is seeing the shadows of the bodies of trees, on snow, in full moonlight.
Every time, I savor this view – and I hope to see it again.
Growing up in Wisconsin, I got to see this month after month for nearly half of every year. Living here in St. Louis, it’s unreliable.
But this winter: snow for three full moons! November, December and January!
How flakin’ lovely rare.
Moonlit tree shadows spotlight snow, the soft power in sparkly white stuff.
Snow stores precipitation, for a spring thaw slow release that maintains river flows and replenishes precious groundwater.
Snow makes a nice thick, fluffy blankie for plants, so their seeds can survive extreme cold and temperature fluctuations. Snow regenerates whole plant communities.
Under snowpack, a “subnivean” zone is a refuge for small mammals, insects, and soil invertebrates, a space where these humble, vital critters can survive harsh winter conditions.
And when it’s cold enough for snow to stay, many fewer dormant ticks will make it through to suck our blood.
Then there’s Albedo. Reflectance! It’s how arctic snow – and ice – reflecting sunlight from Earth’s poles helps maintain Earth’s climate balance. Same as how reflective white roofs make best use of all the energy we consume to heat and cool our homes. Albedo is beneficial year-round.
Albedo is also why tree shadows cast on snow are so stunningly strong. Leafy shapes are lovely on mid-summer full moons – yet in winter night light: dear trees, dear snow! OOOH-LA-LA!
No matter how many times it comes, St. Louis snow goes quick!
After eight light-weight inches covered our yard at January’s end, in less than two weeks just one small white snow patch remained, sheltered from sun-melt in the broad daylight shadow of our tulip poplar tree.
One holds space for another, through life’s mighty constant, Change. In black and white, by night and day.
When Snow stills our human hustle, and La Lune is full, a fortunate person looks long and deep. Looks to understand the True Nature of duality, that stuff our species works so hard to perpetuate, raging, all around us.
Through ancient, cycling kinship with moon and trees, snow reveals: Duality, at its luminous heart, is Dance.
Green Jean Ponzi is a longtime local voice for Earth. She contributes Earthworms Castings like this one as a new three-minute word-music “show” for Community Radio St. Louis, our region’s courageous new volunteer-powered internet radio station. Tune in online at www.CRSTL.FM. Like St. Louis snowfalls, brief can be beautiful!