We’re snowbound by yesterday’s solstice storm—& snow predicted thru the week. My curmudgeonly side says I got by quite well from 1984-1997 in Virginia & San Francisco with bare ground & warm weather on Christmas day—with all due respect to Bing Crosby & Irving Berlin. Another side sees the beauty in the wintery Yuletide landscape (sometimes grudgingly). Eberle loves the enveloping quiet of a snowstorm, which was certainly the case yesterday, as the air was white with snow….
To put a positive spin on things, I’m posting a translation I made back in the 90s of Appolinaire’s “La Blanche Neige,” one of the all-time lovely lyrics about snow from his 1913 Alcools. The original by Appolinaire follows. If you know French, you can read Alcools (since it’s in the public domain) at the splendid Project Gutenberg site, here. I also have around a dozen Appolinaire translations on my own translations page.
For those of you in northern climes, hope this helps make the wintery weather a bit more of a delight, & less dreary.
White Snow
Angels the angels in the skies
One’s dressed up like an officer
One’s dressed up like a chef
And the others are singing
Comely officer color of the skies
Long long after Christmas gentle spring
Will decorate you with a shining sun
With a shining sun
The chef plucks the geese
Ah! let the snow fall
And fall if only I held
My beloved in my arms
Translation © John Hayes 1990-2008
La Blanche Neige
Les anges les anges dans le ciel
L’un est vêtu en officier
L’un est vêtu en cuisinier
Et les autres chantent
Bel officier couleur du ciel
Le doux printemps longtemps après Noël
Te médaillera d’un beau soleil
D’un beau soleil
Le cuisinier plume les oies
Ah! tombe neige
Tombe et que n’ai-je
Ma bien-aimée entre mes bras
Guillaume Apollinaire, 1913