SNOWFLAKES.

Out of the bosom of the air, Out of the cloud folds of its garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow, Descends the snow. Even as our cloudy fancies take Suddenly shape in some divine expression, Even as the troubled heart doth make In the white countenance confession, The troubled sky reveals The grief it feels. This is the poem of the air, Slowly in silent syllables recorded; This is the secret of despair, Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded, Now whispered and revealed To wood and field. —Longfellow.