The Dance

I stood at the window for a long time.  Watching the snowflakes dancing past.

Seeing the frozen jewels glide past my window, falling into the white blanket beneath, I felt- for a moment- sadness.  Those exquisite creations, each swallowed up in the drifts below.  One after the other.   Here and then gone.

And then I thought what it would be like to tumble downward like the snowflake.  Falling without resistance, surfing the winds in a trajectory that belonged only to it.  Surrounded by so many other dazzling partners.

I thought of the crystalline and fragile beauty of each individual flake.  A singular beauty arising from the interrupted symmetry of their creation.   Never to be repeated.

And something else took the place of my sadness.

 

To understand that we each exist as a unique creation of the One.

To accept the winds of the world and make our way without resistance.

To dance down our arc of time as a singular- but not isolated- being.

To use ourselves up, holding nothing back from life’s descent.

And then to return to the place where we began.

Melting into the snowy bosom of all that is and all that will be.

 

I stood at the window watching the snowflakes and I wept.

Not sadness anymore.  Tears of a nearly unbearable gratitude.

Gratitude for the blessing given to me- and to each of us- the chance to live out the finite and exquisite dance of life.