С рождеством! Рождественская звезда Стояла зима. Дул ветер...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas star

It was winter.
The wind blew from the steppe.
And it was cold for the Baby in the den
On a hillside.

The ox's breath warmed him.
Domestic animals
Stood in a cave
A warm haze floated above the manger.

Doha shaking off the bed
And the seeds of millet
Watched from the cliff
Waking up to the midnight distance of the shepherds.

In the distance there was a field in the snow and a churchyard,
Fences, tombstones,
Shafting in a snowdrift,
And the sky above the cemetery full of stars.

And nearby, unknown before
Shy cups
In the gatehouse window
A star flickered on the way to Bethlehem.

She burned like a stack, away
From heaven and God
Like a flash of arson
Like a farm on fire and a fire on a threshing floor.

She towered a burning stack
Straw and hay
Amid the whole universe
Alarmed by this new star.

A growing glow rode over her
And something meant
And three starships
Hurried to the call of unprecedented lights.

Gifts were brought for them on camels.
And the donkeys in the harness, one of the weeds
The other, descended from the mountain in small steps.
And a strange vision of the coming time
All that came after stood up in the distance.

All the thoughts of centuries, all dreams, all worlds,
The whole future of galleries and museums,
All fairies pranks, all the affairs of sorcerers,
All the Christmas trees in the world, all the dreams of children.

All the thrill of warm candles, all chains
All the splendor of colored tinsel ...
... All the evil and fiercer wind blew from the steppe ...
... All apples, all golden balls.

Part of the pond was hidden by the tops of the alder,
But part was visible perfectly from here
Through the nests of rooks and trees at the top.
As donkeys and camels walked along the dam,
Shepherds could make out well.

- Come with everyone, bow to the miracle, -
They said, smelling shrouds.
Shuffling in the snow made it hot.
In a bright meadow with mica leaves
Were barefoot for the shack.

On these tracks, like a flame of cinder,
Grumbled the shepherd in the light of a star.
The frosty night was like a fairy tale
And someone with a ridged snow ridge
All the time invisibly entered their ranks.

Dogs wandered around, apprehensive.
And huddled to the supply, and waited for trouble.
On the same road through the same area
Several angels walked in the midst of the crowd.

Their invisibility made them invisible
But the step left an imprint of the foot.
At the stone crowd crowded the people.
It was getting light. Cedar trunks appeared.

“And who are you?” - asked Mary.
- We are a tribe of shepherds and heaven ambassadors,
Come to give you both praises.
- You can’t do it all together. Wait at the entrance.

Amid gray ashes, dawn mist
Drovers and sheep breeders trampled,
Pedestrians swearing with riders,
A hollowed-out watering deck
Camels roared, donkeys kicked.

It was getting light. Dawn like dust particles of ash
He swept away the last stars from the sky.
And only the wise men of countless rabble
Mary let in the hole of the rock.

He slept, all shining, in an oak manger,
Like a month a ray in a hollow in the recess.
He was replaced with a sheepskin coat
Donkey lips and nostrils of an ox.

They stood in the shade, as if in the gloom of a crib
Whispering, barely choosing words.
Suddenly someone in the dark, a little to the left
The wise man pushed away from the manger
And he looked round: from the threshold to the Virgin,
As a guest, the Christmas star watched.

Boris Pasternak, 1947