Falling Snow: a favourite poem

Posted:21 December 2010

Falling Snow by Alan Williams

See how they fall

An infinity of heavenly aspirations

Come to convert the world

With a deep and even purity.

Sent to nullify and cleanse

To enhance and beautify

To muffle and calm

With the tranquillity

Of a gossamer eiderdown.

To cloak in a mystery

Of endless variations

Of the same tonal theme;

Converting everything

To a glistening coalescence.

Tidying up the farmyard

Smoothing out the fields

Transmogrifying neglected gardens

Into dazzling showpieces,

Cluttered garden sheds

Into sparkling summer-houses,

Making abandoned bean sticks

As elegant as sculptured crystal,

And fondant death-traps

Of old familiar ponds

Enhancing the weary timothy

In the sad neglected churchyard.

Cheering up the stories

On the long forgotten grave stones.

Turning distant spires

Into alabaster space rockets

And drooping telephone lines

Into crystal mooring ropes

For ocean going bungalows.

The purification is complete, unblemished,

Save for the prints of wandering spirits

Fading in the gentle cascade.