MY DECLINE

Gleam the stars in the sky maternal,
Upon the steppe, shed pallid light
Sadly jangle sleigh bells eternal
Of restive horses, like, the rhythm of the night.

Quite flows the river through the darkness,
And without a jerk slyly moves on
And is lighted by the paleness
Of the moon light looming wan.

Everywhere its, snow and nothing,
Not a green to live the mind
I sit beside the river and glooming,
To please my heart not a thing I find.

A cold wind blows, reckless and sadly,
Makes cows shiver in their cart
For animals it is almost freezing, for me,
It fans the flames of my smouldering heart.

Anew they start chasing my core fleetingly,
The images of long forgotten years
My emotions provoked by thoughts suddenly
Fill my eyes with gloom and tears.

Oh! How I crave for sweet illusions,
Of the pleasures of my frenzied youth
At this state, yearn for those delusions
Which often does my heart soothe.

But fitfully, do youth's vain hopes elude me,
My dream of fortune and of fame
Of love and of happiness deprived me,
Then passed like time and no more came.

As after the storm there is silence,
The earth is wrapt in placidity far
After my youth of noise and violence,
I wish to die beneath the tranquil stars.

Beyond the hill where snow lies deep,
The ice fields crack and tempests blow
Where tender green creepers creep,
May there my bones lie beneath the snow.

O'er my grave cold and doleful,
Might then a young cypress grow
"From the senile blooms the youthful'
Then to the world, may it show.

Gleam the stars in the sky maternal,
The moon through the sky moves heavily
In their sheds the horses fraternal,
Stop jangling the sleigh bells drowsily