Snow

It is said the Inuit have over 50 names for snow....

Here are 25...

1. Call it welcome in November.

2. Call it sheet when it stretches across garden beds.

3. Call it lantern when awakened in the night by its brightness.

4. Call it piranha when it bites your cheeks.

5. …or possum when it pauses, so you can shovel the driveway

6. …or kitten when it sleeps in the crooks of window.

7. Call those soft, full flakes, floating down wings of white butterflies.

8. Call it coat of Joseph when the backyard wears the many colors of sunlight.

9. Call it forgiveness when it lies like balm over an area of clear cut.

10. Call it tickle when you stand, arms outstretched, and catch it on your tongue.

11. Call it ceiling when it spans horizon to horizon and blocks the sun.

12. Call snow lace when it lines the limbs of lilacs.

13. …or eyelet when it embroiders spruce.

14. Call it harmonica when it whistles through the trees

15. Call it mother when it dusts.

16. …or grandmother when it rests in the porch swing.

17. …or magician when the landscape disappears.

18. Call it prayer in its stillness.

19. Call it padlock if it clasps the door closed.

20. Call it mouse when it squeaks under your boot.

21. Call it encore when it falls a second time from trees and telephone lines.

22. Call it barnacle when it deposits behind the wheel of your car.

23. Call it tradition when it comes on Christmas.

24. …or trickster if it appears on April 1st.

25. In the evening when snow delivers you to the comfort of hearthfire, call it friend. 

Names of Snow

List compiled by:

Judi K. Beach