A Frosty Morning

It was a bitterly cold morning. The temperature had plummeted during the night and when morning came the countryside was a canvas of white frost, and an eerie silence reigned over the land. Neither man nor beast could be seen anywhere. But for all its harshness, it was an awesome landscape and a magical moment. It was as if time had stood still and Nature held its breath.

"I am the hoarfrost that covers the land.

White, sharp, hard and cold.

I have frozen the land across its length and breadth,

high and low, in meadow and on heath.

I have subdued all of nature, thrown a mantle of silence over it.

I am the frost that lingers and loiters with cruel intent,

that stiffens the grass and stills the brook.

I am the frost that makes you shiver, makes you shake.

I am the hoarfrost that blankets the land,

I am the cold white sand."