While It's Passing

[Куплет 1] By the citrus crates, where the vendors call, I set my easel near the fountain wall. A boy in a red cap trades a joke for pears, A woman weighs peaches, sunlight in her hair. The fishmonger’s sleeves flash silver and blue, I chase that quick color before it slips through. [Алдынғы қайырма] You can stand a moment, if you’ve got the time; I’m saving what the morning leaves behind. [Қайырма] Come see it while it’s passing, The plum, the brass, the blue; A whole day turns to color When the light comes moving through. I can’t keep the market, But i can keep this spark— Come see it while it’s passing, Before the stalls go dark. [Куплет 2] A woman with a basket stops to watch me work, Says, “you’ve caught the shout that lives beneath the words.” I give the canvas room for her green scarf to fly, And the striped awning leaning into a saffron sky. Coins ring out; a handcart rattles past, I lay the last bright stroke and let it last. [Алдынғы қайырма] You can stand a moment, if you’ve got the time; I’m saving what the morning leaves behind. [Қайырма] Come see it while it’s passing, The plum, the brass, the blue; A whole day turns to color When the light comes moving through. I can’t keep the market, But i can keep this spark— Come see it while it’s passing, Before the stalls go dark. [Көпір] At noon they fold the canvas roofs, The calls grow soft, the lanes unwind; But every face i met today Has left a little color in my mind. [Final chorus] Come see it while it’s passing, The plum, the brass, the blue; A whole day turns to color When the light comes moving through. I can’t keep the market, But i can keep this spark— Come see it while it’s passing, And carry it through dark. [Аутро] A little red, a little gold, A lively day that won’t stay still.