snow song

One last snow post for the moment, as rain is forecast now and they say it may all clear soon. An earlier version of this poem was posted a couple of years ago; I haven’t made huge changes, though I’ve added line breaks and tweaked it a little.

Snow Song

It’s snowing, says someone who has peeked into the dark night,

and I wonder if the night is less dark 
because of the snow,
and if snow 
on a dark night tastes different 
from snow
on a moonlit night 
or snow in sunshine; I wonder 
whether
sunshine adds flavour 
to snow flakes, and if each flake 

has its own six-edged flavour, 
and how a raindrop feels 

when it is caught outside 
on a dark night, and how it feels 

when it finds itself solidifying 
into white crystals like feathers;

I wonder whether each feather 
sings a different note, whether

the drifted snow at dawn will sing 
like a flock of birds awakening,

and whether I 
will hear it.

 

(The italicised line is a quote from Charles Simic)