Devils

Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover; Flying snow is set alight By the moon whose form they cover; Blurred the heavens, blurred the night. On and on our coach advances, Little bell goes din-din-din... Round are vast, unknown expanses; Terror, terror is within. - Faster, coachman! 'Can't, sir, sorry: Horses, sir, are nearly dead. I am blinded, all is blurry, All snowed up; can't see ahead. Sir, I tell you on the level: We have strayed, we've lost the trail. What can WE do, when a devil Drives us, whirls us round the vale? 'There, look, there he's playing, jolly! Huffing, puffing in my course; There, you see, into the gully Pushing the hysteric horse; Now in front of me his figure Looms up as a queer mile-mark - Coming closer, growing bigger, Sparking, melting in the dark.' Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover; Flying snow is set alight By the moon whose form they cover; Blurred the heavens, blurred the night. We can't whirl so any longer! Suddenly, the bell has ceased, Horses halted... - Hey, what's wrong there? 'Who can tell! - a stump? a beast?..' Blizzard's raging, blizzard's crying, Horses panting, seized by fear; Far away his shape is flying; Still in haze the eyeballs glare; Horses pull us back in motion, Little bell goes din-din-din... I behold a strange commotion: Evil spirits gather in - Sundry, ugly devils, whirling In the moonlight's milky haze: Swaying, flittering and swirling Like the leaves in autumn days... What a crowd! Where are they carried? What's the plaintive song I hear? Is a goblin being buried, Or a sorceress married there? Storm-clouds hurtle, storm-clouds hover; Flying snow is set alight By the moon whose form they cover; Blurred the heavens, blurred the night. Swarms of devils come to rally, Hurtle in the boundless height; Howling fills the whitening valley, Plaintive screeching rends my heart... Translated by Genia Gurarie