Alexander Pushkin
Winter Morning

The frost and sunshine; day of wonder!
But you, my charmer, you still slumber —
Awake, O Beauty, and come forth;
Relinquish, pray, your dreambound aura
To meet the North’s bright-eyed Aurora;
Come as a star born of the North!

Recall last night: the blizzard raging,
Through muddled skies the shadows racing;
The moon, a darkly pallid stain,
Was gleaming yellow in the blackness;
And there you sat consumed with sadness —
Look now… outside the windowpane:

Beneath a perfect light-blue skyline,
The snow that sparkles in the sunshine
Like fascinating carpets lies;
The woods alone look dark but airy,
And hoary pines show green but barely,
And there’s the stream that shines through ice.

All of the room is lit with amber
Resplendence. Gaily through the chamber,
The crackly furnace cracks away.
Some couch-made thoughts would be in order.
But wait: I think that we should order
Our good old mare into a sleigh.

And past the morning snowdrifts gliding,
Sweet friend, let’s give ourselves to riding
Our quite impatient little horse,
Stop by the fields, forlorn and empty,
The woods where leaves were once in plenty —
All that I cherish on these shores. 

Translated by Yuri Menis