VocalEssence Ensemble Singers

How slowly the spring has been coming this year.
How slowly the wounds of the ice disappear.
How sparsely the green on the earth comes forth.
It fears a sudden chill blast from the north.
The branches that shine are quite naked and lean,
The closed little buds can hardly be seen.
There shimmers a hidden, invisible sprout
But never a rift of the green flutters out.
And how could the tiny anemones dare
To dance and to frolic on maiden feet bare—
They stand there quite scared with their heads bent down
As if it is them we would pick, so neat,
So glittering light and so fluttering sweet.
Forget that in April the snow was still here,
For now it is May—let your smiles appear.
—Tom Kristensen, translated by Martin S. Allwood
and Knud K. Mogensen