Again thy ever flowery shores

Soon, Salgir! joyful shall behold;

The bard shall wind thy rocky ways

Filled with fond sympathies, shall view

Tauride's bright skies and waves of blue

With greedy and enraptured gaze.

Enchanting region! full of life

Thy hills, thy woods, thy leaping streams,

Ambered and rubied vines, all rife

With pleasure, spot of fairy dreams!

Valleys of verdure, fruits, and flowers,

Cool waterfalls and fragrant bowers!

All serve the traveller's heart to fill

With joy as he in hour of morn

By his accustomed steed is borne

In safety o'er dell, rock, and hill,

Whilst the rich herbage, bent with dews,

Sparkles and rustles on the ground,

As he his venturous path pursues

Where AYOUDAHGA'S crags surround!

THE GIPSIES.

Translated by Charles Edward Turner This narrative poem was originally written in 1824 and published in 1827. Composed during Pushkin's exile in the south of the Russian Empire, The Gipsies is one of his most popular poems, which has been praised for its originality and handling of psychological and moral issues, serving to inspire many operas and ballets, as well as other contemporary poets.

The Gipsies opens in Bessarabia, modern day Romania, with a colourful and lively description of a gipsy camp's activities. Written almost entirely in iambic tetrameter, the narrative poem introduces an old man waiting for his daughter Zemfira to return home, while his dinner grows cold. When she arrives, she announces that she has brought Aleko with her, an exile who has fled the city, because the law is pursuing him.

Bessarabia, at the time of the poem's setting THE GIPSIES.

I.

In noisy crowds the gipsies bold

Their way through Bessarabia tramp;

To-day they pitch their camp and set

Their tattered tents by river-side.

As free as bird, they choose their haunt,

And peaceful sleep 'neath open sky.

From midst the wheels of waggon-vans,

Half-covered with thick canvas roofs,

Curls high the flame, and round the fire

Within their tent the family group

Prepare with care the evening meal.