Short Poems

Snow, snow faster,
Ally-ally-blaster;
The old woman's plucking her geese,
Selling the feathers a penny a piece.

Snow-bound mountains, snow-bound valleys,
Snow-bound plateaus, clad in white,
Fur-robed moujiks, fur-robed nobles,
Fur-robed children, see the light.
Shaggy pony, shaggy oxen,
Gentle shepherds wait the light;
Little Jesus, little Mother,
Good St. Joseph, come this night.

The Smile of the Walrus is wild and distraught,
And tinged with pale purples and greens,
Like the Smile of a Thinker who thinks a Great Thought
And isn't quite sure what it means.

Slowly the moon is rising out of the ruddy haze,
Divesting herself of her golden shift, and so
Emerging white and exquisite; and I in amaze
See in the sky before me, a woman I did not know
I loved, but there she goes, and her beauty hurts my heart;
I follow her down the night, begging her not to depart.

A slender young Blackbird built in a thorn-tree:
A spruce little fellow as ever could be;
His bill was so yellow, his feathers so black,
So long was his tail, and so glossy his back,
That his good little wife, who sat hatching her eggs,
And only just left them to stretch her poor legs,
And pick for a minute the worm she preferred,
Thought there never was seen such a beautiful bird.

Slender, delicate, soft jade,
Fresh peeled spring onions —
They are always hidden in emerald
Sleeves of perfumed silk
Yesterday on the lute strings
All their nails were painted scarlet.

Sleep's very dear to me, but being stone's
Far more, so long as evil persevere.
It's my good fortune not to see nor hear:
Do not wake me; speak in the softest tones.

She sits upon her Bulbul
Through the long long hours of night —
And o'er the dark horizon gleams
The Yashmack's fitful light.
The lone Yaourt sails slowly down
The deep and craggy dell —
And from his lofty nest, loud screams
The white-plumed Asphodel.

Silent , you say, I'm grown of late,
Nor yield, as you do, to our fate?
Ah! that alone is truly pain
Of which we never can complain.

Skimming the waves, deep in the night,
an immortal passed by here:
his sandal fell off, and remained behind,
floating on the water.
The years went by, mountains became valleys...
but it never disappeared:
it changed into a pillar of stone,
blocking the flow of the river.