Aleksey Koltsov
A Hawk`s Thoughts

Shall I live always
Sitting at home?
Wasting my youth here,
Never to roam?

And by the window
Shall I always stay,
The far road watching
By night and by day?

Are the hawk's pinions
Unfettered never?
Is ev'ry journey
Barred him for ever?

To foreign peoples
Fears he be gone?
With step-mother Fortune
To live alone?

Why is he eager
To see all the world?
Why yearns his spirit
For pinions unfurled?

Why does my darling.
Oh why does she,
Her tears fast flowing,
Sit always by my?

See, she flies from me,
Sings me a song,
With her hand beckons
To follow along!

No, here no longer
At home shall I stay,
Nor watch at the window
The road far away!

I shall go out of doors;
The road calls to a land,
And there I shall live
As God may command!

Translated by Unknown Author