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Image Copyright Terekhov Igor, 2009
Used under license from Shutterstock.com

Horse of Russian Winter
by Dorothea Barth ©2009 
First draft completed 11/25/2009. Inspired by practicing Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, Winter Daydreams

Too soon the mournful tune has passed   
Chromatics trot at perilous pace 
They leap and bolt, evading grasp 
As hands extend, relentless race

Eyes shift to follow notes' escape 
Sideways their orchestral glance
To capture what is not yet lost
And give the music its best chance 

Quite suddenly the page transforms 
The notes converge and flow downhill  
And from the snow-swept taiga woods 
A horse bursts forth and then stands still

"Behold the Russian winter 
Behold the frozen ground 
Behold the lonely silence 
Behold the hidden sound 

See the Russian winter
Its vastness and its glow 
Dig beneath the Arctic snow
Find sustenance below

Feel the Russian winter
Siberian cranes have flown 
Breathe the vapors of what was
In centuries unknown

Hear the Russian winter
The larch tree sighs and pounds 
Enter songful cabin where
Camaraderie abounds

Taste the Russian winter 
And savor now the shchi 
Raise a glass of honeyed  brew  
And bid the winter flee" 

A toss of mane, a storm of hooves
White winter's horse has fled  
The symphony is surging 
What new themes lie ahead?

The fingers feeling fleeter 
There's no more need to count 
The horse of winter shimmers 
As I embrace the sound