European Elegies/Summer/The cloud

87.THE CLOUD


Last of the rain-king's retinue,
Alone thou marchest through the blue!
Alone thou darkenest our way!
Alone thou saddenest the day!

But, now, thy night shut heaven out;
Stern lightning wound its coils about;
Thy thunders shook the trembling hours,
And drenched the avid earth with showers.

Enough, begone! Thy time is sped.
The earth revives; the storm has fled;
And gay winds, tossing tree-tops high,
Expel thee from the placid sky.


From the Russian of Alexandr Sergeevich Pushkin.