A. S. Pushkin Eugene Onegin Translation by Charles H. Johnston

XII

As if before some mournful parting
Tatyana groaned above the tide;
she saw no friendly figure starting
to help her from the other side;
but suddenly a snowdrift rumbled,
and what came out? a hairy, tumbled,
enormous bear; Tatyana yelled,
the bear let out a roar, and held
a sharp-nailed paw towards her; bracing
her nerves, she leant on it her weight,
and with a halting, trembling gait
above the water started tracing
her way; she passed, then as she walked
the bear — what next? — behind her stalked.

XIII

A backward look is fraught with danger;
she speeds her footsteps to a race,
but from her shaggy-liveried ranger
she can’t escape at any pace —
the odious bear still grunts and lumbers.
Ahead of them a pinewood slumbers
in the full beauty of its frown;
the branches all are weighted down
with tufts of snow; and through the lifted
summits of aspen, birch and lime,
the nightly luminaries climb.
No path to see: the snow has drifted
across each bush, across each steep,
and all the world is buried deep.

XIV

She’s in the wood, the bear still trails her.
There’s powdery snow up to her knees;
now a protruding branch assails her
and clasps her neck; and now she sees
her golden earrings off and whipping;
and now the crunchy snow is stripping
her darling foot of its wet shoe,
her handkerchief has fallen too;
no time to pick it up — she’s dying
with fright, she hears the approaching bear;
her fingers shake, she doesn’t dare
to lift her skirt up; still she’s flying,
and he pursuing, till at length
she flies no more, she’s lost her strength.

XV

She’s fallen in the snow — alertly
the bear has raised her in his paws;
and she, submissively, inertly —
no move she makes, no breath she draws;
he whirls her through the wood… a hovel
shows up through trees, all of a grovel
in darkest forest depths and drowned
by dreary snowdrifts piled around;
there’s a small window shining in it,
and from within come noise and cheer;
the bear explains: “my cousin’s here —
come in and warm yourself a minute!”
he carries her inside the door
and sets her gently on the floor.