Белая Ночь (White Night)
Poem
White night, wan night,
Winter gloaming has come,
A single song on the crusty snow
Dies from the beak of a bird
Who has sung too late;
He’s the last one and everyone notices him.
But his is the only song that cheers the man
Who walks home late.
White night, wan night,
Sun slides down behind
The snow-skimmed horizon
And then it draws near;
Drawing up like the lapping of water on a shore;
Whispering on frosty wings;
Alighting on the crystals in the air,
The Great White Night,
Bouncing off the dimming clouds,
Like frozen puffs of smoke:
No darkness in the northern eve.
No darkness to hide dark deeds.
White night, wan night,
Light is on all night long;
The sun, flowing like white flame
Is a giant fiery snowball.
Light spills from every icicle
And flows down every snowbank.
Only thick, narrow shadows,
As deep and black as ink remain.
Ice can clatter;
Snowmen can smirk
Only in the shadows of trees
Can black things lurk.
more by Lëaf Ednïwinga
photograph by Aaron Burden
