If There Were No Winter Days
This poetic adaptation is based on the well-known Russian song “Kaby ne bylo zimy”, famously featured in the animated film “Winter in Prostokvashino”.
The poem reveals how winter, often seen as cold and harsh, becomes a keeper of memories, dreams, and childhood joy. Snow turns into a symbol of wonder, silence into a space for imagination, and winter itself into a quiet guardian of human warmth.
The final lines express gratitude - not only for the season, but for the poetry it brings into our lives. This song is both a tribute and a thank-you: to winter, to dreams, and to the magic that lives between them.
**If There Were No Winter**
If there were no winter days
In our towns and little lanes,
We would never know the joy
Of these snowy, magic games.
No small children racing fast
Round the snowman, bright with cheer,
No soft trails of silver paths,
If the winter weren’t so near.
If there were no wintertime,
That’s a secret all hearts know -
We would tire of endless sun,
Of summer’s ceaseless glow.
No soft blizzard, pale and shy,
Would come dancing through the night,
And the bullfinch on the pine
Would not fill our souls with light.
If there were no wintertime,
Tell me — what would wonder be?
How pale the world would feel to us
Without its mystery.
If there were no winter days,
Only summer, warm and bright,
We would miss the sudden spark
Of a New Year’s fairy night.
No Grandfather Frost would haste
Through the snow and frozen streams,
And no river glassed in ice
Would guard our childhood dreams.
If there were no winter days -
Oh, what void life’s song would be…
Thank you, winter, for your dreams,
For your snow, your magic, and your poetry.
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Here's a link to the song:
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/kX4vnWePYq9B7Q
Instrumental version - via the following link:
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/0pQPyZNrECi37g
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Russian original version via the link:
http://stihi.ru/2025/12/25/5344
Свидетельство о публикации №125122505676