Cryptic passage

Snow crunches beneath my feet
As I traverse the forest path
A soft breeze caresses my skin
Like a mother's gentle touch
The trees bow down before me
Their skeletal limbs heavy with ice
Naked, alone, desperate
No hope, no warmth, just cold
I'm swallowed in the darkness
Absorbing all the pain
Such torture self-inflected
To learn the truth in being
All this time not knowing why
Searching for the reasons
Only now, in death, do I understand
This cryptic passage called life