Eugene Onegin Part 8

22.

By her the poet first was given His youthful dream of ecstasy, And thoughts about her would enliven His pipe's first moan of melody.

Farewell to golden games, for ever!

He took instead to groveland cover, Seclusion, stillness and the night, The stars and heaven's brightest light, The moon amid her constellation, The moon, to whom when evening nears, We dedicated walks and tears, Our secret sorrow's consolation...

But now we only see in her A subst.i.tute for lamplight's blur.

23.

Forever modest and submissive, Forever merry as the day, As charming as a lover's kisses, As artless as the poet's way, Her eyes as azure as the heaven, Her flaxen curls, her smile so even, Her voice, her slender waist and stance These made up Olga... but just glance At any novel at your leisure, You'll find her portrait there a it's sweet, Once I myself found it a treat, But now it bores me beyond measure.

Reader, I shall, if you'll allow, Turn to the elder sister now.

24.

Her elder sister was Tatiana...

This is the first time that we grace A tender novel in this manner With such a name, so out of place.

What of it? It is pleasing, resonant; I know, of course, that it is redolent Of memories of ancientness Or maids' rooms! We must all confess: That even in the names we're given There's very little taste on show (We will not mention verses now); Enlightenment we don't believe in, We've simply utilized it for Mere affectation a nothing more.

25.

And so then she was called Tatiana.

Lacking her sister's beauty, poise, Her rosy freshness, in no manner Would she attract a person's gaze.

A wayward, silent, sad young maiden, Shy as a doe, in forest hidden, She seemed inside her family A stranger, an anomaly.

She could not snuggle up to father Or mother; and herself a child, By children's games was not beguiled To skip or play, but often, rather, Would at a window silently Sit on her own throughout the day.

26.

Of contemplative disposition Beginning with her cradle days, She coloured with a dreamy vision The idle flow of rural ways.

Her slender fingers knew not needles; Embroidery seemed made of riddles; With silken patterns she was loath To animate a linen cloth.

A sign of the desire to govern, The child with her obedient doll Rehea.r.s.es for the protocol Of etiquette and worldly canon, And to her doll with gravity Imparts mamma's morality.

27.

But even in those years Tatiana Possessed no doll nor made pretence To tell it in an adult manner About town fashions and events.

And childish escapades were foreign To her: in winter, tales of horror, Told in the darkness of the night, Gave to her heart much more delight.

Whenever nurse, obeying Olga, Brought all her little playmates down To play upon the s.p.a.cious lawn, She found the games of catch too vulgar, The ringing laughs and jollity Were boring to her equally.

28.

Upon her balcony, preceding The rising of the dawn, she loved To watch the dancing stars receding That on the pale horizon moved, When earth's fine edge is softly glowing, The wind that heralds morn is blowing, And by degrees the day grows bright.

In winter when the shade of night Possesses half the world much longer, And longer, too, the lazy East, In moonlight overcome by mist, Continues to repose in languor, Awakened at her usual time, By candlelight from bed she'd climb.

29.

Fond early on of reading novels, For which all else she would forgo, She grew enamoured of the marvels Of Richardson5 and of Rousseau.

Her father was a decent fellow, Of the preceding age and mellow, Who saw no harm in books, which he, Not having read at all, would see As empty playthings, unengrossing, And did not care what secret tome Lay until morning, in his home, Beneath his daughter's pillow dozing.

As for his wife, she'd also gone Quite crazy over Richardson.

30.

Her love for him was not connected With having read her Richardson, Nor was it that she had rejected A Lovelace for a Grandison.6 But in the past Princess Alina, Her Moscow cousin, when she'd seen her, Had talked about these gentlemen.

Her husband was her fiance then, A bond to which she'd not consented; She sighed after another one Who, with his heart and mind, had won Her liking more than her intended: This Grandison was smart at cards, A fop and Ensign in the Guards.

31.

Like him, she dressed to match the fashion In keeping with good taste, well bred; But all at once without discussion The girl was to the altar led.

And, to dispel her dreadful sorrow, Her husband wisely left, the morrow, Taking her to his country seat, Where G.o.d knows whom she was to meet.

At first, she strained and sobbed and ranted, All but divorced her husband, too, Then turned to household matters, grew Acclimatized, became contented.

Habit is heaven's gift to us: A subst.i.tute for happiness.

32.

Habit allayed the grief she suffered, That nothing else could remedy; A thing of note she soon discovered That gave her equanimity: Between domestic work and leisure She ascertained the perfect measure For governing her husband's life, And then became a proper wife.

She drove out to inspect the farmers, She pickled mushrooms, saved and spent, She shaved the conscripts' foreheads,7 went On Sat.u.r.days to use the bathhouse, Beat servant girls who got her cross a She, not her husband, was the boss.

33.

Time was, she would have written in a Shy maiden's alb.u.m with her blood, Praskov'ya she'd have called Polina And made a song of every word.

She'd wear tight stays to suit convention, A Russian N just like a French one She'd learned to utter through her nose; But all this soon came to a close: Stays, alb.u.m, the Princess Alina, The sentimental verselets, all She now forgot, began to call 'Akul'ka' formerly 'Selina', And finally appeared becapped Inside a quilted housecoat wrapped.

34.

But heartily her husband loved her, On her designs he did not frown, In all, he cheerfully believed her, While dining in his dressing-gown; His life rolled on without a hazard; At eventide, sometimes, there gathered A group of kindly neighbours, who, Informally, arrived to rue And t.i.ttle-tattle, who confided And chuckled over this and that.

Hours pa.s.sed a time that the tea was set, They summoned Olga to provide it.