A Storm (Metlinsky)
A Storm, by Amroziy Metlinsky (1814-1870)
The savage tempest howls and whines;
In clouds the livid lightning flashes;
A mighty uproar rends the pines
As once again the thunder crashes;
But now, coal-black the midnight stood,
And now it reddens, fierce as blood.
The Dnieper wails amid these shocks
And shakes its mane, a mass of grey;
It roars, and leaps upon the rocks,
And gnaws the crumbling stone away…
The thunder smites with fierceness dire
And from the forest bursts a fire.
The sky now blazes, now is black;
The tempest’s uproar cries out shrill;
The rain comes down in fierce attack
Across dark forest, field, and hill.
As, thundering down, the cloudburst pours,
Between its banks the Dnieper roars.
(Trans. C. H. Andrushyshen and Watson Kirkconnell)