Footsteps in the Snow 

                                        A Spies lament                                                 

Where shall the true lover rest,

Parted from his maidens breast.

Where shall the deceiver lie,

Who stroked fair maidens thigh.

Footsteps in the snow

How simply her heart was won,

When it only seemed for fun.

Taken for a plaything,

No thought for times swift wing.

Footsteps in the snow

Her love so lightly taken,

That it would slowly waken.

An ever lasting sweet desire,

That burnt as smouldering fire.

Footsteps in the snow

Many a time a solemn vow,

With passion and tender show.

Taken when enchanted minds,

With love together bind.

Footsteps in the snow

Yet this trust, so easily derived,

Deceived with time’s passing tide.

Eaten bit by bit by duty bound,

Starves the soul of loves sweet sound.

Footsteps in the snow

And so the cancer of the heart,

We are unaware of at the start.

Possesses us, it, though we ignore,

At our very souls does gnaw.

Footsteps in the snow

As we can’t confess to life’s deceit,

It fills our hearts with sad remorse

So unbearable that we must meet,

The only thing at our recourse.

Footsteps in the snow 

Translated from the original Russian by Boris 2003