Snow Day

I am given silence,

For a moment.

snow comes down this morning

Steady, heavy enough

To mute the trucks on the County Road

To stop the bus from coming

To wake and whirl the kids away

And so they are sleeping still.

I sit here and soak it in

The silence I so often seek

But soon enough is soured

By the empty noise within me.

Up the stairs I hear begin

The music of their wakefulness

They are coming to transfigure

The silence, and the snow outside.

I was given silence

And it was good and blessed

But now I am given sound

And I am grateful for it.