In Winter, Poem by Emile Verhaeren

Poem by Emile Verhaeren Period 19th century

The sodden ground cracks in the first cold spells,
The white snow scatters its white down afar,
And lays, along the roofs and trembling thatch,
Little woolen cushions iridescent with light.

Through the bare fields pass the customary laments,
Across the desert of mournful silences,
Where great heavy ravens bring down their slow flights
And come, from hunger, to prowl near the cottages.

But ever since the gray sky had clouded over,
In the farmhouse an winter gaiety was laughing,
They gathered in a circle around the red hearth,

And love awakened, at evening, from lad to lass,
At the fat and whistling bubbling of the brew
That swarmed, like a belly, in its brazen cauldron.

Emile Verhaeren

Translation generated by Poésies 123 with assistance from the deepseek-chat artificial-intelligence model.

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