of nature and the beauty in stillness Image of Death and Purity The poet compares the snow to a burial cloth He says White funeral cloth is slowly unrolled over deathless earth This image joins death and purity together The white color stands for peace and rest The funeral cloth covers the tired land giving it a new calm life Death becomes part of the natural cycle Okara shows that nature accepts death as softly as sleep by turning it into a beginning again Symbol of Life and Creation In his dream Okara sees black birds and oil palms He writes I dreamed of birds black birds flying in my inside These birds are not real they live in his soul They symbolize imagination creation and inner energy The oil palms bearing suns for fruits stand for fertility and the power of life They show that life continues and renews itself Okara uses these natural images to express how creation rises even after silence or death Symbol of Human Greed Okara shows a contrast between human greed and nature s purity The poet dreams of the uprooters tired and limp leaning on my roots their abandoned roots These uprooters try to destroy nature but fail Their tiredness shows the weakness of human greed The roots of the oil palms stand strong It symbolizes nature s endurance This image teaches that when humans lose touch with nature they also lose their strength and peace Spiritual Symbolism and Peace In the last part Okara finds spiritual meaning in nature s quiet beauty The earth becomes a symbol of divinity and mystery The snow-covered trees bow like white-robed Moslems salaaming at evening prayer This image connects nature to worship and faith Nature itself becomes a temple where peace and devotion live in silence The poet learns that spirituality is part of life s natural harmony In Snowflakes Sail Gently Down Gabriel Okara joins symbolism and imagery to show the unity of life death and renewal The snow birds roots and trees are not just pictures of nature they are symbols of peace creation and faith This poem teaches that nature like the human soul never truly dies It continues its calm eternal cycle of rest and rebirth