From shivering mist ascends the morning,
The bustle, of the fields declines,
The wolf walks now upon the highway,
In wolfish hunger howls and whines;
The traveller’s pony scents him, snorting—­
The heedful wanderer breathless takes
His way in haste beyond the mountains! 
And though no longer when day breaks
Forth from their stalls the herd begins
To drive the kine,—­his noon-day horn recalls. 
The peasant maiden sings and spins,
Before her crackling, flaming bright
The pine chips,—­friend of Winter night.

And see!  The hoar frost colder sparkles
And spreads its silver o’er the fields,
Alas! the golden days are vanished! 
Reluctant Nature mournful yields. 
The stream with ice all frozen over
Gleams as some fashionable parquet,
And thronging hordes of boyish skaters
Sweep forward on its crystal way. 
On her red claws despondent swimming,
The plump goose parts the water cold,
Then on the ice with caution stalking
She slips and tumbles,—­ah behold! 
Now the first snowflake idling down
Stars the depressing landscape brown.

At such a season in the country,
What can a man’s amusements be? 
Walk?  And but more of empty highway
And of deserted village see? 
Or let him through the far Steppes gallop,
His horse can scarcely stand at all—­
His stamping hoofs in vain seek foothold,
The rider dreading lest he fall! 
So then remain within thy paling,
Read thou in Pradt or Walter Scott,
Compare thy varying editions,
Drink, and thy scoffing mood spare not! 
As the long evenings drag away
So doth the Winter too delay.

Pushkin.

[Pradt was a French political writer, Minister to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1812.  Nine editions of his History of the Embassy at Warsaw were demanded.]

FROM “ONEGIN”

Sometimes he read aloud with Olga
A latter day romance discreet,
Whose author truly painted nature,
With cunning plot, insight complete;
Oft he passed over a few pages,
Too bald or tasteless in their art—­
And coloring, began on further,
Not to disturb the maiden heart. 
Again, they sat for hours together,
With but a chess board to divide;
She with her arms propped on the table,
Deep pondering, puzzled to decide—­
Till Lenski from his inward storm
Captured her castle with his pawn!

PUSHKIN.

FROM “ONEGIN”

Love condescends to every altar,
Ah when in hearts of youth it springs,
Its coming brings such glad refreshment
As May rain o’er the pasture flings! 
Lifted from passion’s melancholy
The life breaks forth in fairer flower,
The soul receives a new enrichment—­
Fruition sweet and full of power. 
But when on later altars arid
It downward sweeps, about us flows—­
Love leaves behind such deathly traces
As Autumn tempests where it blows
To strip the woods with ruthless hand,
And turn to soggy waste the land!