Winter Morning

Alexander Pushkin, 1829

The sun and frost, the sparkling morning…
My charming friend, you’re still adoring
The land of dreams. Awaken, Love!
Asleep, in quilts of languor’s aura…
But now, arise, and meet Aurora;
My Northern Star, shine bright above!

Anight, the blizzard roared, howling,
The sky was murky, hazy, cloudy,
The ghostly moon – in ghastly sway;
Its yellow pallor shone, abysmal,
And you were gloomy, even dismal,
But now, look! – A lovely day!

Beneath the roof of azure grandeur,
Beneath the rays of sunny splendor,
The sparkling, snowy carpet lies.
Alone it stands – the sparse black forest,
In frosty dress, the spruce before it,
And glints the river, clad in ice.

Our hall ablaze with amber lanterns
Of sun’s bright glow; a merry laughter
Of crackling firewood in the stove.
‘Tis peaceful dreaming by the furnace…
Say, our bay mare we ought to harness
The sledge is begging that we drove.

We’ll course and glide, indulge in banter,
Delighting in the filly’s canter,
Atop the snow, my Darling Lass,
We’ll visit fields of barren calmness,
And woods that changed from lush to lulling,
And banks I love, I do confess.