Konstantin Balmont

I always gently learn a silence, ever green,
Watching magnificence of pines for centuries grown.
They save their former hue under the blizzards’ snow,
And there’s no plea in them and no plea, in me.

I learn the intense blue from the high heaven’s sea,
I learned playing a flute from reeds of airy flow. 
I knew from easy clouds how dreams o’erfill a tow,  
How free created dreams could burn in fire’s glee.

I learn the intense red from flames of gorgeous poppies,
I take the melting gold from beams of reigning sun,
The crystal of my dreams – from one of a fast run.
I seek for signs if mice are crossing cornfields copious.        

Winter will freeze a thrust, make rivers’ shores close
And sing me a white psalm without words with its snows.


Translated by Yevgeny Bonver, September, 2003