Nikolay Klyuev
Aspens are vibrant, firs more muted...

Aspens are vibrant, firs more muted,
The snow is slight and foggy here,
And in the steam of lairs the lice-packs
Have chewed the bear-cubs on the ear.

The pine tops are on guard and ready.
Their trunks’ resin fragrant and brown.
The wood-grouse with a craw is flying
To where the soppy sloughs lie down.

I stroll the dawn-lit edge of forest,
The sun, dancing in branches, tags...
And there above a shadowed cottage
Smoke, looking like a squirrel, wags.

Grandfather thinking, mother spinning
Pass idle hours without a care.
Brooks bubble; hosts of trunks and hummocks
Look in the forest puddles there.

Translated by Vladimir Markov and Merrill Sparks