I breathe in the fresh, clean air of winter

With hands gloved against the sting of the cold

I look through the frozen mist of my breath

With neck scarf-ed against the cut of the wind

And wrapped across my mouth

I feel the heat of my breath behind it

Warming my face and neck

Inside my coat I’m warm, like a cozy room at home

My feet are booted against the cold and the wet

While I walk inside the deep snow-marked footsteps

Of one who has walked this way before me

I marvel at how the thick coat of new snow

Decorates even the smallest of trees with such crystal symmetry,

While ahead of me there lies a vast carpet of whiteness

I take it all in and feel envigorated and very alive

Yet right here, leaning on the dumpster, a man about my age

Shivering and cold, huddled in cardboard and papers

His winter is surely cold and bleak, as looks at me

His eyes dull and weary and now meeting mine

I look away, pretending not to see, but just then

He slowly looks up and says "good morning", and smiles!

Stopping, and looking down I notice that the tracks in the snow I follow

Have led right to him, I wonder where from and why there?"

Why has God led me to this sad place, this person,

On such a beautiful winter day

What am I to do? Yet without hesitation, I hear myself say,

Good morning, how can I help you?

Still smiling the stranger says, "just a dollar for some coffee"

Some coffee? This man is freezing to death…I must do something

Here, take my hat and gloves and scarf, and lets go warm up I say

As I reach for his hand and he for mine...he says "thanks, beautiful day isn’t it" !

What? Aren’t you cold?

"Why yes, but I knew you’d come"

How? I asked…Then smiling he said…

"You have been following my footsteps for some time now

But you did not know where it was leading you or what to do"

I reached into my pocket for a dollar, then looked up and he was gone!

Andy Cirmo 011005