My farm sleeps under a blanket of snow. Not even a breath of wind whispers in the unnatural silence.
Pine branches bend beneath the weight but the bird houses stand straight as sentinels.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAhnrvIXBCT1Q099vQIuJg9eRbAAqnaLNcH1RIw9fj0Gai4g44bWUZc76lTlF_CoG1WzTopsez_BPSCXK1JZGMNUQXDSKhXNEjV5IxxkXhovj-v7IFpJNW8p2CUZ2d6OQwAD3qyzsVWaY/s400/ChristmasEve2008BW-3.jpg)
The pasture stretches beyond the creek to merge with the gray sky.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcqZO2_5RaUD8A5DAsofeC4v5PFWTsNNnjtzDJfzw53vmdH0ZHruT3PwgMPNvzsjCqgWaLJwt2QptWYjXfBC0FX7p9B43fHSWS_-1NTojpeoaS8vUdJA5QkZFaUqlxDEL_guKt0GjGM_k/s400/ChristmasEve2008BW-2.jpg)
In the Pasture
On the first day of snow, when the white curtain of winter
began to stream down,
the house where I lived grew distant
and at first it seemed imperative to hurry home.
But later, not much later, I began to see
that soft snowbound house as I would remember it,
and I would linger a long time in the pasture,
turning in circles, staring
at all the crisp, exciting, snow-filled roads
that led away.
by Mary Oliver
began to stream down,
the house where I lived grew distant
and at first it seemed imperative to hurry home.
But later, not much later, I began to see
that soft snowbound house as I would remember it,
and I would linger a long time in the pasture,
turning in circles, staring
at all the crisp, exciting, snow-filled roads
that led away.
by Mary Oliver
Wild grapes display a winter cloak of white.
Out of the bosom of the air
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bore,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,.Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bore,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,.Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieKE-n3aVPxD7W_1WDYxqNBuZor67oqTCgTl6EFzBJR0bVqLzI2_VZdbTe1IaetdROhF-I3fTyGNJzf4FSnrZYSHIlTG2injyOx31JXMBP4Btxiid2P1TKD40bA_XladibqYoEn9-4NVM/s400/junco.jpg)