Solemnity of Snow

The sleep of reason quells my fears away From doubt, and lifts my mind upon the wings Of carelessness, well sheltered on my way To places where no man or ghost may sing, Where all humanity is mute as stone Or chained to ignorance: a wretched drone. Unmoved I lie and rest while, all around My secret grotto, winds may blow and die Upon the summits clad in ice, oft bound For other trails of time, where many sigh In secret envy of my quiet home, Where calm and comfort linger all alone. No other life endures on high, though, in a cleft Upon the mountain’s rib, a strange and humble plant Has found a trough where rain drops fall bereft Of love, while waiting for green leaves which can’t Abide the laws of night, and rather pine To die and live anew upon the crested line. Beneath, the storm and clouds enshroud the scene And never let one sound disturb the white Solemnity of snow, whose bright flakes seem To live and die like us, in the plain sight Of sun or moon rays, under stars Whose endless swarm all other beauty mars. At last, I breathe the wintry air below The frozen crown of endless solitude, Inwrought with fragile pearls which grow And spread across in listless multitude, As if within a sea shell where the sand Is well protected from the ocean’s hand. Between the rock and air there’s no divide To tear my spirit down, to dare me keep My eyes upon the ground, upon the side Of life whence knowledge cannot leap Into the space below me, far more vast Than any precipice where faithless hope is cast. Find my poems and published poetry volumes at www.eton-langford.com