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The girls' song.
Come maidens, daughters beautiful,
Darlings, sweetest lassies all,
Enjoy yourselves, you lovely ones,
Make sport here, all you dearest girls,
Strike up a song, untwine your curls,
A fetching song, a cherished one,
Let's tempt a young man to our circle,
To our chorus and our song.
And when the young man is enticed,
And when we see him in the distance,
Let's surround him in a trice,
Pelt him with cherries from our hands,
With cherries and with raspberries,
And the red currants ripe and ruddy.
How dare you eavesdrop, bold young lad
Upon our songs sung from the heart,
How dare you look and take a part,
In maidens' games which make us glad. |
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XL
And so they sang, but paying scant heed
To the singers' fair, resounding song
Tatyana waited with apprehension,
Hoping her heart's beating would subside,
And that her flaming cheeks would cool.
But still the tumult was in her breast,
And still the fire upon her cheeks,
Fiercer and fiercer it only burns…
Just as a butterfly twists and turns,
Beating the rainbows of its wings
Captured by some schoolboy cheat;
Or as a hare trembles among the beet
Suddenly in the distance glimpsing
A hunter within the bushes slinking.
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XLI
But finally she heaves a sigh,
And from the bench gets up to walk,
Turns round and almost immediately
In front of her, in the first alleyway,
Onegin stands, his eyes ablaze,
In the likeness of a thunder cloud,
And, as though burned by the lightning's fire,
She stands tight-rooted to the ground.
But the sequel to this rendezvous
So unexpected, good readers, not today
Have I the strength to narrate to you.
After such toilsome oratory
I must relax and have some wine:
Somehow I'll finish it in my own good time.
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