Afanasy Fet
The Aerial City

At the peep o day in the lift forgether
bonnie cloods like a steepled toun,
wi mony a dome like a bubble o gowd
and white roofs and white waas blinterin doun.

O yon is my ain white city —
or I came to the earth I bade there!
abune the derk warld quhile it sleeps
in the reid lift skinklan fair.

But it hauds awa to the North,
sails saftly, saftly, and high —
and a voice is fain that I’d join it —
but gies me nae wings to try.

___

Fun fact: MacDiarmid translation of Fey’s poem into a Scottish brogue. Here is a brief glossary to aid those not familiar with it.

waas blinterin = walls gleaming

or … bade = Before… lived there

quhile = while

reid skinlan = red sky glittering

Translated by Hugh MacDiarmid