To avoid making certain ambiguities and alterations too harmful, I added "translator's notes"Winter is like a wolf who captures old people, ill people, and very young children.
Winter is like a rock; plants cannot grow on this rock
Winter is like sharp claws or merciless teeth*Therefore we ask you "Will you resemble a playful boy in the spring**?
May you dance*** on the ground. So may the sun, who is your mother, see us. And may beautiful plants continue to be on your route"*Literally "merciless bird's mouth" [there is no word for "beak". I struggled with this, and decided that the spirit of the text would best be served by "merciless teeth", but added this footnote to, hopefully, allow my successor to figure out what the original was. :-)]
**Literally "jumping boy of spring" or "boy of the jumping spring"
***Or jump or run in place [run without a goal]