The first Snowfall

The snow had begun in the gloaming,

And Busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway

With a silence deep and white.

I stood and watched by the window

The noiseless work of the sky,

And the sudden flurries of the snowbirds,

Like brown leaves whiling by.

I thought of the mound in sweet Auburn

Where a little headstone stood:

How the flakes were folding in gently

As did robins and babes in the wood.

Up spoke our own little Mabel,

Saying, "Father, who makes it snow?"

And I told of the good All-Father

Who cares for us her below.

Again I looked at the snowfall,

And thought of the leaden sky

There arched o'er our first great sarrow,

When the mound was heaped so high.

I remembered the gradual patience

That fell from the cloud like snow,

Flake by flake, healing and hiding

The scar that renewed our woe.

And again to the child I whispered,

"The snow that husheth all,

Darling, the merciful Father

Alone can make it fall,"

Then with eyes that saw not, I kissed her

And she, kissing back, could not know

That my kiss was given to her sister,

Folded close under deepening snow.

    In five short years (between 1848 and 1853) Lowell lost three of his four children, and his beloved wife Maria. Only his daughter Mabel mentioned in the poem survived.

   This poem is about how you can't ever really let go of someone you truly love. That death in a sense, makes their presence even more powerful. I know some mental health professionals would deem these sentiments undesirable - but how are we to feel any differently - especially when the one lost is our own child?

   Everything in the poem: the snowfall, the love for one's child, even one's trust in God is seen through the lens of the remembered one. This is as it should be - if. If the One remembered, the one who exerts the greatest force is the right One, then the lens of the remembered will provide the clearest vision of all.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this: the One died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore now we SEE no one according to the flesh; although we used to SEE Christ that way we SEE his thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature. Old things have passed away - behold all things have become new! II        Corinthians 5:14-17

   Paul says that since Jesus died we SEE differently. His death is the lens through which we may best see other - see Jesus himself.

   Even God see through this lens. He saw us a enemies, but since Jesus died, we can be reconciled by his blood (Romans 5:10), when we're baptised in that blood we wrap Christ around us (Galatians 3:27), so God sees us as children ( I John 3:1). Just as James Russel Lowell embraces us with the love he has for his Only Begotten Child.