Life is like jest; and all thins show it, I thought so once; but now I know it.The thoughts of others were light and fleeting, of lovers meeting or luck or fame; and when trouble came life is like a jest.

The naked boughs of the birch-trees
Are hoary, as if in froth.
The grove's like a herd of reindeer
Huddling in the frost.

The day today is so splendid
That I've no words at all.
The shadows of aspen-wood fences
On the snow like a ladder fall.

Decked in their garments of sunshine,
Dear little darling birds,
Gray sparrows appear like finches,
Finer than any words.