There’s snow on the Gates in Central Park. A number of photobloggers have captured images of this; see, for example, photos here, or here. The images bring to mind a stanza from a seldom-sung hymn:
Pale through the gloom the newly fallen snow
Wraps in a shroud the silent earth below
As tho ’twere mercy’s hand had spread the pall,
A symbol of forgiveness unto all.
The Lord uses snow as a symbol of repentance: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” The snow on the Gates brings that image to life.
More snow on the gates. They started taking them down Sunday, but most of them are still there. I wonder how long until they have all disappeared.