Balmont, Konstantin

My my most prominent memories of poetry come from the days when my father and uncle made us kids compete for who will best learn and recite Esenin's "Shagane, ty moya Shagane" and "Nikogda ya ne byl na Bosfore". I was already able to sense at that time that these are about love and love was something intriguing. I even had a boyfriend already, a handsome little devil one year my junior. He did not know that and at best ignored me, but I kept my hopes up and never neglected to put on my pink miniskirt and run outside whenever I saw Maksim on the playground. At worst, he pointed at me with rogatka, a Y-Shaped little weapon, made to shoot at birds.

I loved that. Even then, at the age of 11, I knew love was suffering. So, throughout all these years, whenever I had a book of poetry in my hands, I skipped the pages to find those having to do with love, and especially avoided anything along the lines of "Belaya bereza pod moim oknom". Now, when I am older, I enjoy poetry with elements of nature in the roles of main characters. Finally, I am able to understand the hidden messages and imagine myself in the shoes of a bird or a tree or a snowflake.

The following poem was written by Konstantin Balmont. "Snezhinka".

Светло-пушистая,
Снежинка белая,
Какая чистая,
Какая смелая!

Дорогой бурною
Легко проносится,
Не в высь лазурную,
На землю просится.

Лазурь чудесную
Она покинула,
Себя в безвестную
Страну низринула.

В лучах блистающих
Скользит, умелая,
Средь хлопьев тающих
Сохранно-белая.

Под ветром веющим
Дрожит, взметается,
На нем, лелеющем,
Светло качается.

Его качелями
Она утешена,
С его метелями
Крутится бешено.

Но вот кончается
Дорога дальняя,
Земли касается,
Звезда кристальная.

Лежит пушистая,
Снежинка смелая.
Какая чистая,
Какая белая!