Boris Leonidovich Pasternak

Translation by Alyssa Gillespie​

from A Fairytale

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Once upon a legend,

In a land of yore,

Through the steppe and burdock

Came a mounted horse.

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Hasting into battle,

Brave the horseman rode

But the dusty distance

Raised a darkling wood.

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Something keen was nagging,

Scraping at his heart:

Fear the water hollow,

Gird the saddle taut.

No heed paid the horseman,

And with gallant gall

Down he galloped brashly

To a forest knoll.

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Turning from the hummock,

Next he toured a dell,

Passed around a meadow,

Crossed over a hill.

Then he found a gully,

And a forest path

Showed him to the woodland

Water hole at last.

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Deaf to any warning,

Blind to danger's brink,

Down the crag he led his

Stallion to drink.