Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TRISTIA: WINTER AT TOMI, by PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TRISTIA: WINTER AT TOMI, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Snow lies deep: nor sun nor melting shower
Last Line: And horses' hoofs ring loud where once their oarsmen plied.
Alternate Author Name(s): Ovid
Subject(s): Death; Snow; Storms; Winter; Dead, The


THE snow lies deep: nor sun nor melting shower
Serves to abate the winter's icy power.
One fall has scarcely come another's there,
And stays in drifts unmelted all the year.
Fierce and tempestuous is the North-wind's sway;
It levels towers of stone and carries roofs away.

With skins and trousers men keep out the cold;
Naught but their faces can your eyes behold.
Into one mass their hair is frozen tight,
Their beards with hoary rime hang glistening white.
Nor need they jars their liquor to confine,
They do not quaff a cup, they break a bit of wine.

Water is brittle here; you use a spade;
And running streams by frost are solid made.
Even the Danube flows with waves concealed
The dark blue surface into ice congealed.
On foot we go across the unmoving tide
And horses' hoofs ring loud where once their oarsmen plied.





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