Alcaeus looks at the silver-haired youth standing before him,
behind him is the monstrous dark cave,
looking as if a beast from under the earth is ready to swallow him whole.
His smile is warm and beautiful,
yet it seems to contain
a faint sorrow that can be seen only because of his gentleness —
just like the smell of the spices from Ahlusi port drifting from his body.
The sky is filled with rolling pieces of snow, as if a large beast is shaking off its white fur, spreading across the space and obstructing one's vision.
This mainland’s winter has arrived.
In the south, there is only the beginning of an undetectable lowering of temperature. In the wee hours of morning, you will see frost on the windows, but here — the mainland close to the edge of the extreme north, everything is already barren. Large icebergs floating atop the surface of the ocean occasionally collide with each other; ear-piercing sounds emit between the heavens and earth, pieces of ice breaking off into the ocean, resulting in white waves. The vast black dirt, after a few continuous days of heavy snow, became a white snow land. This is already the most extreme of the north, even the never-ending icicles are akin to the sharp teeth of beasts, holding together the end of the heavens and earth tightly, the horizon disappearing under the glaring white surface of the ice.
The dense clouds, the light, block the sky as if coated by a layer of dust, murkily shining onto the ground.