What is the central theme of the poem The Snowflakes Sail Gently Down The central theme of the poem The Snowflakes Sail Gently Down by Gabriel Okara - is the contrast between death and life At the start winter covers the earth Snow falls like a funeral cloth The trees bend like sad people Everything looks dead Everything feels cold This shows the theme of death silence and stillness in nature But when the poet sleeps he sees a different world He dreams of birds oil palms and suns The dream is full of movement colour and warmth The birds fly The palms grow strong The suns shine This part shows the theme of life hope and renewal It shows that inside death life can still appear Another theme is the conflict between nature and human greed In the dream the oil palms give suns to the uprooters The trees