Snowflake Creation

  “The first fall of snow is not only an event ~ it's a magical event! You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different...and if this is not 'enchantment' , where is it to be found?”

~ J. B. Priestly ~

I'm a delicate little snowflake

who over the long...frigid Canadian winter,

many humans abused my presence.

And to you I address my message:

You drive too fast with no regard,

smashed your cars or slid in the ditch.

You cursed me 'cause you had to shovel

and accused me for your windshield ice.

My advice:

When it snows, you have two choices

shovel or make snow angels!

But if you understand my creation

you may agree with someone who said,

“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake,

it is necessary to stand out in the cold.”

When an extremely cold water droplet freezes,

I begin to form on a pollen or particle of dust

to become an ice crystal in the sky so high.

As I now fall toward ground, water vapour freezes

onto my primary crystal...building new ones

becoming the six arms of my merging snowflake.

Under a microscope, each of us is...

a lacy white 6-sided crystal (a myriad of different shapes).

Super beauty, I've become ~ created by Mother Nature.

And now, you may ask, “How do I become Snow?”

When temperatures are low and there is moisture,

tiny icy crystals  in the atmosphere form.

When these tiny ice crystals collide,

they stick together in 'clouds'

to become the snowflakes you see floating down.

If enough crystals stick together,

they'll become heavy enough to fall to the ground.

I'm Falling, Falling, Falling...

Softly falling, blanketing the countryside

like an 'eider-down' on the cold barren earth.

With wind and multiple flakes, a brutal blizzard ensues...

turning a 'dreamy winter wonderland'

into a nightmare for humans and cities.

Civilizations, our strength can virtually shut down!

As a snowflake, I'll become white stuff

from beautiful white powder to roadside brownish slush.

If you tary with me, I'll show you many benefits.

You'll praise my attributes in lieu of steady complaints.

I bring you snow at Christmas (if Mother Nature permits)

lading evergreen branches so lovely.

Children make snowballs they joyfully toss;

Dads can help build snow-forts in which to play.

To nearby  hills, take the sled or toboggan

and slide to the bottom with laughterous glee.

After your work week of days and hours,

catch the fresh air to downhill ski

or don your snowshoes to trail quiet forests.

Maybe with family you'll have a sleigh ride

pulled by black horses with bells on harness.

Some people have become ingenious

(like the Eskimos or Inuits e'en today)

to build an 'ice house' like Rory and Jean

in their backyard on Hamilton Mountain.

 Thanks, Mother Nature and Father Winter,

it's 20 feet long and 12 feet wide...

complete with snow shelves, benches, tables and chairs.

For Jean's birthday on February 16,

Rory and neighbours (about 20 or more)

celebrated with music, lights... and of course, cold beer!

After numerous hours of scooping and carving,

says he, “It's the beauty of the snow...

it's great building material...

it insulates...and it's very soundproof!”

Just remember, Dear Humans:

Snow's an important ingredient

for the Olympics and Canada's Winter Games.

I’m honoured by novelists and poets ~

Here are a few cudos they  have writ:

Mehmet Murat ildan:  Snowing is an attempt of God to make the dirty world clean.

Nikki Giovannia:  I love you because no two  snowflakes are alike ~ you are unique.

Aberjhani: In your hands, winter is a book with cloud pages…that snow “pearls of love.”

Mary Oliver:  Snow was falling so much like stars filling the dark trees

that one could easily imagine its reason for being…was nothing more than prettiness.

William Hamilton Gibson:  Silent like thoughts that come and go, snowflakes fall, each a gem.

Edmund Hillary:  Despite all I have seen and experienced, I still get the same simple thrill, glimpsing a tiny patch of snow in a high mountain gully…and feel the same urge to climb toward it.

Vista M. Kelly:  Snowflakes are one of Nature’s most fragile things:  just look what they can do when they stick together.

Jared Kintz: We should model the English language after the Inuits who have 52 words for snow.

William Sharp:  There is nothing in the world more beautiful than the forest clothed to its very hollows in snow.  It is still ecstasy of nature, wherein every spray, every blade of grass, every spire of reed, every intricacy of twig…is clad with radiance.

Lama Willa Miller: The snow is sparkling like a million little suns.

Snowflakes are Kisses from Heaven.  (Unknown Author)

Neither 'flake' nor 'fluke' am I ~

I'm a crystal-wrapped Gift from Nature.

Created by Merle Baird-Kerr…March 12, 2015

To comment, email…inezkate@gmail.com  or  mbairdkerr@cogeco.ca