On Waking

One, two, three.

You could sneeze now anywhere in the world and I would hear it.

All around me there is silence. I could hear anything but nothing is moving. The world is frozen, trapped in eternal ice.

Until you melt it with your sneeze. Go on, now. Imagine the warmth that is expelled in that brief explosion of sound - cracking the ice already with its force. Imagine the warmth as it gusts across the frosty landscape, melting and thawing.

The world is beginning to wake.

Hear the trees as they yawn and stretch, the rivers as they shatter into life. Hear the oceans rise and swell as the moon continues in its orbit and the fragile waves smash as they finally fall. Hear the chatter of birds as they shake the melted droplets from their wings.

Are you listening?

Go on. Sneeze.