the sun comes through after freezing rain and i am (some version of) Holiday Golightly, awed by the shimmer and gleam, holding myself from reaching toward the sparkling teardrop beads of winter that adorn all of yesterday’s bare limbs. a cold wind cuts through, sets the diamonds to dancing. as if the glory of light bouncing through frozen water were not enough dazzle! now the shiny morsels crinkle and tinkle in a soft chit-chatter; a delicate, persistent percussion, first stronger from the south, then softly all around. a million billion carats quivering, each one with its own glint. the wind persists, conducting in orchestral depth much less fragile than it sounds. the sunlight plays. a glassy susurrus bounces in the bare snow. the glitz, the glamour! a show like no other. in attendance, an audience of one, forgetting to chew her breakfast, besotted with the romance of it all.