The Heavy Sledges of Winter

The mornings come alive with light and birdsong at long last. It feels as though we have been dragging the heavy sledges of winter for so long through long cold dark nights and short dull days that seemed to be over before they ever began. No fire seemed to burn away the cold that crept its icy tentacles deep under the skin until it seemed that our very bones would become fragile icicles ready to break at the slightest touch.

We could look back only as far as the narrow horizons of the winter and see our sluggish footsteps already fading under the onslaughts of snow and wind until it seemed the landscape itself wanted to erase us from all memory.

Now, though, the world is growing green again. Each new day seems to bring new shoots, new buds and new flowers. The earth is coming back to life again and we can feel it within ourselves. The heavy slow sledges of winter are gone as we shrug ourselves free of their weight and begin to feel that we no long need to trudge and make each new footstep an ordeal to be overcome.

Now we are ready again to step lightly through the bright days as each warmer day shrugs off more of the memory of that long winter, as we shrug off our long, heavy winter coats and begin to learn the true shape of each other once again.