Snowflakes flutter
toward a ground too warm
to celebrate their journey
from clouds too cold
to keep them.

Lost in the clamor,
by gravity’s command,
the individuality
of each falling flake
fades into flurry.

But the ground does not refuse
all the sky sends —

Lightning hits and
hovers in hindsight until 
thunder reaches
up from the earth and claps
our senses together —

How could something so mighty
to the eye not
catch the trailing ear?

High on heaven,
the earth swells.