The snowfall is so silent,
so slow,
bit by bit, with delicacy
it settles down on the earth
and covers over the fields.
The silent snow comes down
white and weightless;
snowfall makes no noise,
falls as forgetting falls,
flake after flake.
It covers the fields gently
while frost attacks them
with its sudden flashes of white;
covers everything with its pure
and silent covering;
not one thing on the ground
anywhere escapes it.
And wherever it falls it stays,
content and gay,
for snow does not slip off
as rain does,
but it stays and sinks in.
The flakes are skyflowers,
pale lilies from the clouds,
that wither on earth.
They come down blossoming
but then so quickly
they are gone;
they bloom only on the peak,
above the mountains,
and make the earth feel heavier
when they die inside.
Snow, delicate snow,
that falls with such lightness
on the head,
on the feelings,
come and cover over the sadness
that lies always in my reason.
Notes
Translation by Robert Bly
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Comments
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Wonderful, soothing images with snow fall, the repetition of the color white, and the stillness of the snow just doing what it does. Lines 37-38 make the poem sad with Unamuno's plea: "come and cover over the sadness/that lies always in my reason. " I can picture him, dealing with the social problems that plagued his country, then, as the snow began to fall, he just found himself starring at it, just lost in the moment. He studied the snow's patterns, its fallings, its lack of sound, and then he realized he needed what the snow offered. It was deeper than peace. It was total surrender to just be.
Beautifully crafted poem.
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ahhhh, this one is so cool. Its almsot sad, but it really has great imagry, and it sounds so pritty. It makes me think of living in AZ again, when i was really little it used to snow and cover up all teh evils, all the darkness. School would be closed, and everything was jsut so much better when it snowed. *sigh great poem!
Bowie of the knfie and spear.
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