A Wonderful Waltz

What a wonderful waltz you performed just for me,
Dear city – no pianos, or cellos, or words;
Summer Garden – it whirled, with its statues and trees,
While leaves of the fall danced to Leningrad chords.

A waltz of noble days,  that waltz of river waves,
The Neva – wide awake, its bridges dance;
That flustered city waltz of clustered whistling bombs,
Of lustrous palace balls, and misty lands;

In that wonderful waltz danced the houses galore,
And the ancient cathedrals were gracing the floor,
Books of life and adventure gave forth their lore,
By the soundless song of the church bells adorned.

A waltz of royal balls – now empty palace halls,
Of laurels grown old, of truth and strife
A waltz of battle days, of blazing deathly flames,
A waltz that holds my fate, a waltz of life.

That waltz of noble dames, of touting bustling lanes,
A waltz of signs ablaze, rains and mist;
A waltz of people’s lives and giant dragonflies,
Of grass that mowed lies, of city bliss.