And the mist of snow, as he had foreseen, was still on it – a ghost of snow falling in the bright sunlight, softly and steadily floating and turning and pausing, soundlessly meeting the snow that covered, as with a transparent mirage, the bare bright cobbles. He loved it – he stood still and loved it. Its beauty was paralyzing – beyond all words, all experience, all dream. No fairy-story he had ever read could be compared with it – none had ever given him this extraordinary combination of ethereal loveliness with a something else, unnameable, which was just faintly and deliciously terrifying.
―Conrad Aiken, Silent Snow, Secret Snow
And then it melts
It does, if it is real. The snow in Aiken’s story doesn’t and is a pretty creepy metaphor. I found a pdf of the short story if you want to read it. The quote still applies to real snow, though. Thanks for reading!
http://maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/silent-snow-secret-snow.pdf