WINTER.
FROM HESIOD.
Beware the January month, beware
Those hurtful days, that keenly piercing air,
Which flays the herds; when icicles are cast
O’er frozen earth, and sheathe the nipping blast.
From courser-breeding Thrace comes rushing forth
O’er the broad sea the whirlwind of the North,
And moves it with his breath; the ocean floods
Heave, and earth bellows through her wild of woods.
Full many an oak of lofty leaf he fells
And strews with thick-branched pines the mountain dells
He stoops to earth; the crash is heard around;
The depth of forests rolls the roar of sound.
The beasts their cowering tails with trembling fold,
And shrink and shudder at the gusty cold;
Thick is the hairy coat, the shaggy skin,
But that all-chilling breath shall pierce within.
Not his rough hide can then the ox avail;
The long-haired goat, defenseless, feels the gale;
Yet vain the northwind’s rushing strength to wound
The flock with sheltering fleeces fenced around.
Translation of Sir C. A. Elton.