The Snow-White Russia

"O Rus, snow-white, in woven cloth of white enlaced,
A worshipper of the white color, from ages long now past."
N. Nikiforova

In weightless verses,
Sweetly-sounding, slow,
Through all the ages
Silver-white motives of Belovodye flow.

Surprisingly simple,
Your wondrous pattern lies –
A white-stone island
Underneath the blue lakes' skies.

A month, a day, a year
Of this blue-eyed land,
A flash – a white gull disappears,
Held by an unseen hand.

A shadow, white and frail,
Upon the windowpane will bloom,
And day will pierce the veil,
Emerging from its foggy womb.

And in the snows of January,
All sorrow melts away…
The Dawn embraces, weary,
The white-clad Rus in her array.

March 21, 2000