To the young, to the brave and the strong,
Before whom the future outspreads
As a board all light-handed to sweep,
The unknown, and the right and the wrong,
A Happy New Year!
To the good, to the tender and true,
Who have stood by our side on the path
Of life’s follies and troubles and cares,
The path that we all must pursue,
A Happy New Year!
For the old, for the frail and the weak,
To whom mem’ry calls up in a dream
The never attained might have been,
We with love and affection bespeak
A Happy New Year!
Cradle Song.
(Imitated from the Russian.)
Sleep! Babyónka,[A] sleep!
By thy side Bábochka[B] watches.
Round the house the wind blows high,
Soars the eagle in the sky,
Hark, I hear the woodcock cry.
Sleep, my darling, sleep!
O’er thy slumbers Saints are watching.
Sleep! Babyónka, sleep!
Bábochka will rock thy cradle.
Wind that rushes through the trees,
Eagle soaring o’er the breeze,
Woodcock whistling in the reeds,[C]
Bring my darling sleep!
Babyónka dear, the Saints are watching.
Sleep! my darling, sleep!
Bábochka Babyónka watches.
Wind and eagle, woodcock brown,
All of them come rushing down
To the cot where baby slumbers.
They have brought Babyónka sleep.
O’er thy slumbers Saints are watching.
Queen Tamara’s Castle.
(Translated from Lermontof.)
In Dariel’s rocky gorges deep,
Where Terek’s water madly moves,
There is a castle on the steep,
The scene of Queen Tamára’s loves.
She seemed to play an angel’s part;
Black as a demon’s was her heart.
The weary traveller from below
Looked on Tamára’s window-glow,
And gazing on the twinkling light,
Went in to sup and pass the night.