And a bonfire high was soaring
Over him upon the cross.
Frigid stars are him ignoring,
Inky night disdains his loss.
Spinners of the snowy winters,
Maidens of the night, pass by,
Eyes just open, tight like splinters,
See them twist the smoke’s thread high.
And the height is gently gazing
Lofty eyes are borne by wings.
Spin, O wraith, and spin, flame’s blazing,
Wrap around the cross your strings!
Sweet the knight, his face concealing
See behind snow’s mask it burns!
Sang I not with loving feeling,
Were my kisses not your healing
As one dawn to new dawn turns?
Oh, that you’d become my lover,
Sweet my knight, I’m slender-made,
Sweet my knight, now come, discover
Snow-blood’s love will never fade.
Three nights long my faith persisted,
Wrapped myself around and cried,
Let his gaze go unresisted,
Yes, with feather wings, I lied.
Burn, and see, ravine will glitter,
I with feather hand will trace
Feathered dust with gleeful flitter
On this level, snowy place.
И взвился костер высокий
Над распятым на кресте.
Равнодушны, снежнооки,
Ходят ночи в высоте.
Молодые ходят ночи,
Сестры — пряхи снежных зим,
И глядят, открывши очи,
Завивают белый дым.
И крылатыми очами
Нежно смотрит высота.
Вейся, легкий, вейся, пламень,
Увивайся вкруг креста!
В снежной маске, рыцарь милый,
В снежной маске ты гори!
Я ль не пела, не любила,
Поцелуев не дарила
От зари и до зари?
Будь и ты моей любовью,
Милый рыцарь, я стройна,
Милый рыцарь, снежной кровью
Я была тебе верна.
Я была верна три ночи,
Завивалась и звала,
Я дала глядеть мне в очи,
Крылья легкие дала...
Так гори, и яр и светел,
Я же — легкою рукой
Размету твой легкий пепел
По равнине снеговой.
«Silent I sit by the prison's high window, / Where through the bars the blue heavens are breaking. / Flecks in the azure, the free birds are playing; / Watching them fly there, my shamed heart is aching. But on my sinful lips never a prayer, / Never a song in the praise of my charmer; / Al...»
«Like a white stone deep in a draw-well lying, / As hard and clear, a memory lies in me. / I cannot strive nor have I heart for striving: / It is such pain and yet such ecstasy. It seems to me that someone looking closely / Into my eyes would see it, patent, pale. / And, seeing, would grow...»
«From my poor sins I am set free. / In lilac dusk the taper smolders; / The dark stole's rigid drapery / Conceals a massive head and shoulders. "Talitha kumi": Is it He / Once more? How fast the heart is beating . . . / A touch: a hand moves absently / The customary cross repeating.»
«Broad gold, the evening colors glow, / The April air is cool and tender. / You should have come ten years ago, / And yet in welcome I surrender. Come here, sit closer in our nook, / And turn gay eyes at what my nurses / Might never glimpse: the blue-bound book / That holds my awkward ch...»