ican Love for Nature:
African culture sees nature as living and sacred. Okara reflects this belief through soft and beautiful images. He says,
“The snow flakes sail gently down from the misty eye of the sky.”
Nature here is not lifeless. It is alive and watching. The “eye of the sky” shows a spiritual presence. This reflects the African idea that nature and life are connected. Okara celebrates nature as a teacher, a giver, and a source of peace.
Spiritual Power of Nature: The poet finds divine peace in the natural world. He compares the snow-covered trees to worshippers,
“like white-robed Moslems salaaming at evening prayer.”
This image joins nature and prayer together. The trees bow in silence like human beings in devotion. For Okara, God lives not in temples but in the calm beauty of the earth. His vision moves beyond religion. It is universal spirituality, where man and nature worship together in quiet faith.
Life and Death in Balance: Okara shows life and death not as opposites but as parts of one circle. He declares,
“White funeral cloth is slowly unrolled over deathless earth.”
The snow looks like a burial cloth, but the earth beneath it is “deathless.” This image shows that death is not an end. Life sleeps under the snow and wakes again in time. The African view of life accepts death as a step toward renewal, not destruction.
Dream of Renewal: Okara dreams of rebirth through nature. He says,
“I dreamed of birds, black birds ………… palms bearing suns for fruits.”
The birds symbolize imagination and new life. The “oil palms bearing suns” show warmth, fertility, and strength images rooted in African land and culture. This dream expresses the universal truth that life continues even after silence or death. It reflects both African fertility and the human spirit’s endless hope.
Warning Against Greed: Okara also speaks about human greed and its danger to nature. He writes,
“roots denting the uprooter’s spades.”
The roots fight against those who try to destroy them. The “uprooters” represent people who have lost their bond with nature. In African belief, this separation brings unhappiness and loss of peace. Okara’s warning is universal: when humans forget nature, they lose both life and spirituality. True strength lies in harmony with the earth.
In “Snowflakes Sail Gently Down,” Gabriel Okara combines African sensibility with universal spirituality. His symbols of snow, birds, and trees show that nature is divine and eternal. Okara reminds us that the soul, like nature, never dies- it only rests, renews, and lives again in harmony with creation.
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