Avalanche

The silence before was palpable, as pure as the wintery blanket,
swaddling  them from the imminent cataclysm.
The crisp, dry air suddenly shattered by a roaring, thunderous crash 
as the snow  started its relentless journey.
The sparkling blue of a cloudless sky, a stark contrast to
the rolling white fury  of cold comfort.
Wisps of powdered snow following its descent, swirling   like imps at play
Oblivious to their deathly dance.
A hypnotising sight- beautiful yet ruthless and tumultuous.
Like God astride  a missile -it spearheaded a path.
Ominously gathering momentum,
Sweeping onward, relentlessly, through the pristine snow  
At first slow, enchanting and hypnotic,
but then becoming  sanguine, and almighty,
Unconstrained it ploughs ahead, engulfing all in its way.
Skiers trying to outrun it, fruitlessly, frantically, pumping faster and faster
some just stared…
stared at death approaching.
No time even to cry out…
Tonnes of snowy oblivion instantly crushed the breath out of them
 and tossed their bodies  momentarily like feathers in a whirlwind,
before being enveloped whole in white concrete tombs.
Within moments destruction had called and left all as before,
but beneath our feet an icy graveyard.