A friendly reminder from Pushkin as the holidays commence...
… tell me,
how are your kith and kin today?
And here my sentiments impel me
for your enlightenment to say
how I interpret this expression:
our kin are folk whom by profession
we have to cherish and admire
with all our hearts, and who require
that in the usual Christmas scrimmage
we visit them, or without fail
send them good wishes through the mail
to ensure that till next time our image
won’t even cross their minds by stealth …
God grant them years and years of health!
–A. Pushkin, Eugene Onegin, trans. Charles Johnston
