Snow
Loreena McKennitt Lyrics

White are the far-off plains,
The vast expanses of the plains are completely covered in white snow

And white the fading forests grow;
The forests are also completely blanketed in white snow, which is causing them to fade from view

The wind dies out along the height
Higher up, the wind is no longer blowing as strongly as it is at ground level

And denser still the snow,
Despite the lack of wind, the snow is becoming thicker and more dense

A gathering weight on roof and tree
The snow is accumulating on everything, including roofs and trees, adding weight and creating a burden

Falls down scarce audibly.
The snow is falling so softly that it's almost silent

The meadows and far-sheeted streams
The meadows and streams are covered with a layer of snow that stretches out as far as the eye can see

Lie still without a sound;
Everything is quiet as the snow covers the land

Like some soft minister of dreams
The snowfall wraps around the artist like a comforting blanket, bringing a sense of peacefulness and tranquility

The snowfall hoods me around;
The snowfall gently encircles the artist, creating a sense of warmth, safety, and calmness

In wood and water, earth and air,
Every aspect of nature is affected by and quieted by the snowfall

A silence is everywhere.
The silence created by the snowfall is absolute and all-encompassing

Save when at lonely spells
Occasionally, in moments of solitude,

Some farmer's sleigh is urged on,
The only sound is that of a farmer's sleigh being driven

With rustling runner and sharp bells,
The runner of the sleigh rustles over the snow, and the bells on the horse's harness ring out

Swings by me and is gone;
The sleigh passes by the artist and disappears into the distance

Or from the empty waste I hear
In other moments of solitude,

A sound remote and clear;
A distant sound can be heard, clear despite the silence of the snowfall

The barking of a dog,
The sound turns out to be a dog barking

To cattle, is sharply pealed,
The barking echoes through the empty fields and barnyards

Borne, echoing from some wayside stall
It seems to be coming from a distant barn or cottage

Or barnyard far afield;
Or perhaps from an even more distant farm

Then all is silent and the snow
After the sound fades away, the silence and snowfall return

Falls settling soft and slow
The snow falls once again, gently and gradually accumulating on everything in sight

The evening deepens and the grey
As the sun sets and the sky darkens,

Folds closer Earth to sky
The boundary between the earth and sky becomes harder to distinguish

The world seems shrouded, so far away.
The world outside of the snowfall is obscured and difficult to perceive

Its noises sleep, and I
All the usual sounds of the world outside are silenced and at rest, and

As secret as yon buried stream
The artist is as still and hidden as a stream that's buried beneath the snow

Plod dumbly on and dream.
Moving slowly and thoughtlessly, the singer becomes lost in dreams and imagination

And dream
Continuing to dream

And dream
Still dreaming

I dream
The artist is continuously lost in thought and imagination

And I dream…
The snowfall and accompanying silence provide the artist with a space in which to freely and deeply dream