Oh the slow fall of snow, br Its unending blanketing swirl! br Yet my mind's eye was giving shape br To what couldn't be kept hidden, br That in the white drifts each fleck br Is known, weighed, counted. br br Oh you spinning dancing flakes, br Your tiny souls and personalities br Withstand gravity, weightlessness, wind, br In your coming and going br I see your destinies glide down, br Which you begin, fulfill, begin . . . br br This one falls soft and like wool, br The next is crystal and tenacious, br The third's a clenched fist of struggle. br Yet their white realm disperses by morning, br Thus one doesn't die from the rest, br And they dissolve into the purest drop shapes. br br Oh the world's slow falling snow, br That race's dense, blanketing swirl! br It perishes and not one fate melts alone. br We melt, but we are left behind br When death, the way spring wind thaws, overtakes br Us drops and comes together home in the womb.