The house smiles with warm welcome
And I, for I have walked long and far that day
With breath steaming like smoke from a winter’s chimney
And a nose as red as a bauble on a tree
A new decoration for the ornamented house
I give a smile in return

The house turns her light eyes on me
And I, for I have walked through the darkness
The dark of a winter’s eve, when the world’s face is hidden
Beneath a midnight veil
And when every sound emerges
Wrapped up for warmth, muffled and with a scarf, just like the travelers
I look with gladness
Upon the light beaming through the slumbering world

The house opens her door to me
And I, for I have seen the world shut away
The trees with their doors shut, letting not one green shoot
Peek through the window
And the travelers with their faces wrapped,
And only their twinkling eyes betraying eyes
Houses themselves in the frigid air

I, however, who has tried to cut the frosty air
Who has tried to awaken a sound
Or to pierce the dark with my little windows
I open my arms to her
Greet her as a fellow spirit
And welcome her into my embrace