Snow Lanterns and Untitled Poem

We had a lot of snow here; a little over 12 inches. Tonight, while the moon was rising and the stars were peeping out from behind their deep blue curtain, my mother and I tried an idea I heard about from my American Literature teacher-snow lanterns! Sadly, the one my mother made with snowballs kept collapsing, and then the holes were too big so the wind blew out her candle. This snow was very powdery, so I decided to not try to make a snowball lantern at all. I had thought about doing an ice lantern like the ones they do in Japan, but we didn't have enough time for that. So I took my brother's igloo building plastic square and placed an empty Milkis can in the center (Milkis cans are very long and slender). I packed in the snow, turned the block upside down, poured warm water over the plastic to loosen it, and then took off a corner so I could pull out the can. I rebuilt my corners and after three attempts, I finally got the candle lit. It kept burning for over ten minutes; we walked around the block, took some more pictures, and it was still going strong! I was so happy! The warm candlelight beneath the ethereal moon is magical. I gazed up at the stars and wished I could walk underneath that sky all night, down a path of little snow lanterns.

I wrote a poem about snow earlier this winter. I was waiting for 'the big one' to come so I could post it here. Enjoy!

It snowed
And each thought like a snowflake,
White and silent
A tiny secret to the unaided eye

Time slows
My heart doesn't beat so quickly
Rather it's a long, quiet sigh
In a breath, I can't describe it

Falling down
Each individual misconception
Hardly any fear at all is left inside
No longer to hide

Oh, and it snowed
The world blanketed in quiet light
Gives me some peace to speak tonight
Or to fly away, I'm not sure

It froze
The frosty glass bears blurred images
Of who I was and who I am
And who I will no longer be

And it stormed
A whirling world of blank thought
Of background noise and personal habits
But somehow it all becomes a comfort

Because it snowed!
And the heap of troubles and anguish
That perpetual feeling of accursed nonsense
All of it disappears to behold the calm of this moment

Love to you all and stay warm!

-Argentia