Арктическая болезнь / A Bad Case of the Arctic

To access Serikova et al.'s paper "High riverine CO2 emissions at the permafrost boundary of Western Siberia", go to https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-018-0218-1
Here is a translation of Robert Rozhdestvensky's poem:

A Bad Case of the Arctic

For K. A. Sychov

Don’t bother looking for a complex vaccine;
don’t go searching through reference books…
This disease
has not been studied by medical science…
If a guy crouched in a tent
says with a melancholy air,
after a silence:
“I’ve got a bad case of the Arctic”,
there’s nothing a doctor can do.

A bad case of the Arctic
means
that the Arctic has taken your heart hostage;
that you have been summoned by the rough voice of the wind.
It means that
from now on
wherever your travels may take you,
on the threshold of any spring,
you will always be haunted by Arctic roads,
you will always dream snowy dreams…

What’s so special about it though,
this icy mess?
Warm rivers and high mountains
gave it a wide berth.
They short-changed it
like a poor cousin…
But who cares if they did?
If only you saw
the rough-hewn majesty of the ice,
if only you understood
the return
of the long-awaited sun,
if only you filled your lungs
with the tingling air
of these latitudes,
if only you ever tasted
the joy and grandeur
of earthly friendship,
then –
I give you my word –
you would say it along with me;
you would say it –
some of you in secret,
some at the top of your voice:
“I’ve got a bad case –
a really bad case of the Arctic!
There’s nothing a doctor can do!”

(Set to music, recorded, and translated by Konstantin Zarubin.)

Видео Арктическая болезнь / A Bad Case of the Arctic канала Konstantin Zarubin