The Wife of the Russian Coachman

Biting frost is  crackling,

It's dark outside;

Silvery hoarfrost

Has covered the window.

It's heavy and dreary,

Silence in the hut;

Only the wind howls

Piteously in the chimney.

And the splinter of wood burns,

Emitting a crackling sound,

Casting its slim gleam down

On the bunks and walls.

A curly-haired laddie

Is dozing by the stove,

Leaning above the wall,

In an old sheepskin coat.

The pale wick light there

Feebly illuminates

The child's blond head

And the blush on his cheeks.

The shadow of his small head

Lies on the sharp wall;

On the bench, by the spinning wheel,

His poor mother sits.

It was not for nothing,

that she had a terrible dream:

Her whole soul was  aching

Since early that morn.

The fifth week eternally .

Is coming to an end,

Her husband’s sunk like a stone,

And he sends no news.

"Oh, Lord please have mercy,

If some misfortune mine

Has befallen my husband

On the lonely road!...

My lot is a woman's lot,

I've been ill my whole life,

What will I do since now

All alone, forlorn? To cry!

My son is still a child,

When will he grow up?

Poor my boy’s still waiting

A present from his father for.

And the sorrowful mother

Looks at her only  son.

"You should lie down,  darling,

Stop you dozing right!”

"But why, my dear Mama,

Don't you sleep yourself,

you’re  spinning evening,

And you are still sitting ?"

"Oh, my dearest, sonnie

I don't have the strength

To spin: I am so sad,

The world seems hateful.

"Stop crying so Mama!"

The boy said to her

And leaned his blonde head

Against his mother's shoulder.

"I won't cry no a drop of tear,

Lie down to sleep, my dear; "

I will bring you a bundle

Of thin yellow straw,

I will make your bed,

And may our God willing,

Your father will soon

Bring you a present;

He will make new sleds

Better that you have

And will ride his little son

Around the yard in them..."

And the child fell asleep.

The night is long, so long...

The sound of the spinning wheel

Resounds  evenly drearily…