We are laden with

Immortal snow. It seems we will

Never again breathe, buried under these shrouds, frozen beneath these sorrows of

Things long passed away. Can you hear the loneliness

Exhale around us? Still, distant memories of life

Rumble beneath our icy shrouds . . .

–

Would you believe the promise germinating beneath the snow: that life still

Inches forward,

Labored but not

Lost?

–

Now can you see? Frozenness and silence will

Only make the

Thaw all the more splendid? Listen, hear the harbinger whispers . . .

–

Loveliness will soon burst out of this winter: from the Death comes the Beginning Again.

Awake! Frost will make us at last extend our trembling hands towards the Fire.

Songs will come only after there has been such a silence

That purged our ears of all lethargy.

–

Fear not the lonely darkness

Of the soul’s winter nights, when no warmth of consolation comes—

Rather, keep watch and prepare for the coming of

Everlasting light. By the cold snow you are being tested.

Vindicated soon, you will breathe again . . .

Emptied of that which was rotted, purged clean with breathless purity. Yet until then,

Realize that winter will not last forever.