As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky. So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

These lines come from Clement Clarke Moore’s famous Christmas narrative poem commonly known as “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (also widely titled “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”). The poem was first published anonymously in 1823 in Troy, New York, helping to popularize a vivid, domestic image of St. Nicholas arriving by sleigh and reindeer. The quoted couplets occur during the moment of sudden arrival, when the reindeer and sleigh surge upward to the rooftop, likened to storm-tossed leaves. Moore later became publicly associated with the poem and included it in his 1844 volume of verse.

The simile of “dry leaves” driven by a “wild hurricane” emphasizes speed, lightness, and effortless lift: the reindeer do not merely land; they are swept upward in a natural, almost elemental motion. The image fuses the supernatural with the familiar rhythms of nature, making St. Nicholas’s arrival feel both wondrous and believable within the poem’s cozy household setting. By comparing the sleigh’s ascent to leaves rising when they strike an obstacle, Moore conveys a sudden vertical leap—an imaginative solution to how a sleigh could reach a roof—while heightening the excitement and kinetic energy of the scene.

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

1) “As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,” (often printed without “that”)
2) “So up to the housetop the coursers they flew,” (housetop as one word)
3) “With a sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.” (a sleigh vs. the sleigh)