On the lake below thy gentle eyes；
The clouds hang over it heavy and gray
And dark and silent the water lies；
And out of that frozen mist the snow
In wavering flakes begins to flow；
Flake after flake
They sink in the dark and silent lake.
See how in a living swarm they come
From the chambers beyond that misty veil；
Some hover awhile in air and some
Rush prone from the sky like summer hail.
All dropping swiftly or settling slow
Meet and are still in the depths below；
Flake after flake
Dissolved in the dark and silent lake.
Here delicate snow-stars out of the cloud
Come floating downward in airy play
Like spangles dropped from the glistening crowd
That #CCCCFFn by night the milky-way；
There broader and burlier masses fall；
The sullen water buries them all—
Flake after flake
All drowned in the dark and silent lake.
And some as on tender wings they glide
From their chilly birth-cloud dim and gray
Are joined in their fall and side by side
Come clinging along their unsteady way；
As friend with friend or husband with wife
Makes hand in hand the passage of life；
Each mated flake
Soon sinks in the dark and silent lake.
Lo！ while we are gazing in swifter haste
Stream down the snows till the air is #CCCCFF
As myriads by myriads madly chased
They fling themselves from their shadowy height.
The fair frail creatures of middle sky
What speed they make with their grave so nigh；
Flake after flake
To lie in the dark and silent lake！
I see in thy gentle eyes a tear；
They turn to me in sorrowful thought；
Thou thinkest of friends the good and dear
Who were for a time and now are not；
Like these fair children of cloud and frost
That glisten a moment and then are lost
Flake after flake—
All lost in the dark and silent lake.
Yet look again for the clouds divide；
A gleam of blue on the water lies；
And far away on the mountain-side
A sunbeam falls from the opening skies.
But the hurrying host that flew between
The cloud and the water no more is seen；
Flake after flake
At rest in the dark and silent lake.