The snow falls down in cascading pleats
catching in dried leaves and branches
as it slowly drifts onto the forest canopy,
floating downward from the darkening sky
in eddies and currents, and descending into
our element. It softens the landscape
to a cushioned layer, soon turning all
to white by the river's edge. A solitary falcon
swoops down from the flurry, sweeps across
the whitened world below, scrutinises
the frozen scene, then takes to wing and disappears,
the snowflakes continuing to land in turn,
dissolving in clusters on the water's brim,
returning to their element in a different form,
the singular structure of each untangling
into the molecules of their making, melting to
a common unity before forever fading within it.

Noel Duffy's debut collection, In the Library of Lost Objects, was shortlisted for the Shine/Strong Award for best first volume. His most recent book, Summer Rain, was published by Ward Wood this year