Venice masks

Wednesday 17 January 2018

Dawn - Antanas Strazdas

Arisen, arisen.
The morning star is up.
The cock begins to crow.

Lark, lark,
The morning meadow lark
Dances on the wind and flies.

O sky,
The lark clamours in the sky,
Hens cluck in the pale yard.

The ox
Bellows to the new fields.
Kicks at the brown earth.

Lambs
Prance through the morning
Light, and play their dance.

And there!
There past the dark trees,
What is it glistens, rises?

Sun, sun.
The sun is pure bright
Gold on the awakened land.

Sun stirs
The lark in high morning,
The roses in the valleys.

Dew, dew,
Wet, the delicate dew
With the odour of green grass.

Fly, fly.
The cuckoo cries in the tree,
The dove coos in the air.

Run, run,
The hare runs in the field,
Alert ears crossed to listen.

Gone, gone,
The evil time has gone.
All is good and new.

Antanas Strazdas (1763 - 1833) Lithuania
Transalted by Deium Lyiids
Source: Green oak: selected Lithuanian poetry, edited by Algirdas Landsbergis and Clark Mills, Voyages Press, 1962

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