Michael Shcherba
Kazakh Steppe
A sea of feather-grass, all sprayed with dewdrops
Is rippling silver in a murmurous haze.
Pointed fur caps crammed down on their foreheads
And crouched above their flying horses’ manes,
The Kazakhs gallop, feet home in the stirrups,
Swerve around their great flocks once again.
Darting from beneath the thundering hoofbeats
A startled spy, the wild bird takes the air.
The sun burns up the crowns of the parched trees
And, for a hundred miles, nothing there
But space. And from a low hill an old shepherd
Looks out across those spacious plains,
All around the bird-choirs are rejoicing.
Is rippling silver in a murmurous haze.
Pointed fur caps crammed down on their foreheads
And crouched above their flying horses’ manes,
The Kazakhs gallop, feet home in the stirrups,
Swerve around their great flocks once again.
Darting from beneath the thundering hoofbeats
A startled spy, the wild bird takes the air.
The sun burns up the crowns of the parched trees
And, for a hundred miles, nothing there
But space. And from a low hill an old shepherd
Looks out across those spacious plains,
All around the bird-choirs are rejoicing.
Page(s) 30
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