Talks for a moment have subsided;
mouths chew. On all sides plates
and covers clatter, and the jingle
4 of rummers sounds.
But soon the guests raise by degrees
a general hullabaloo.
None listens; they shout, laugh,
8 dispute, and squeal. All of a sudden —
the door leaves are flung open: Lenski
comes in, and with him [comes] Onegin. “Oh, my Maker!”
cries out the lady of the house. “At last!”
12 The guests make room, each moves aside
covers, chairs quick;
they call, they seat the pair of friends
XXX
— seat them directly facing Tanya,
and paler than the morning moon,
and more tremulous than the hunted doe,
4 her darkening eyes
she does not raise. In her stormily pulses
a passionate glow; she suffocates, feels faint;
the two friends' greetings
8 she hears not; the tears from her eyes
are on the point of trickling; the poor thing
is on the point of swooning;
but will and reason's power
12 prevailed. A word or two
she uttered through her teeth in a low voice
and managed to remain at table.
XXXI
Tragiconervous scenes,
the fainting fits of maidens, tears,
long since Eugene could not abide:
4 enough of them he had endured.
Finding himself at a huge feast,
the odd chap was already cross. But noting
the languid maid's tremulous impulse,
8 out of vexation lowering his gaze,
he went into a huff and, fuming,
swore he would madden Lenski,
and thoroughly, in fact, avenge himself.
12 Now, in advance exulting,
he inwardly began to sketch
caricatures of all the guests.
XXXII
Of course, not only Eugene might have seen
Tanya's confusion; but the target
of looks and comments at the time
4 was a rich pie
(unfortunately, oversalted);
and here, in bottle sealed with pitch,
between the meat course and the blancmangér,
8 Tsimlyanski wine is brought already,
followed by an array of narrow, long
wineglasses, similar to your waist,
Zizí, crystal of my soul, object
12 of my innocent verse,
love's luring vial, you, of whom
drunken I used to be!
XXXIII
Ridding itself of its damp cork,
the bottle pops; the wine
fizzes; and now with solemn mien,
4 long tortured by his stanza,
Triquet stands up; before him the assembly
maintains deep silence.
Tatiana's scarce alive; Triquet,
8 addressing her, a slip of paper in his hand,
proceeds to sing, off key. Claps, acclamations,
salute him. She
must drop the bard a curtsy;
12 whereat the poet, modest although great,
is first to drink her health
and hands to her the stanza.
XXXIV
Now greetings come, congratulations;
Tatiana thanks them all.
Then, when the turn of Eugene
4 arrived, the maiden's languid air,
her discomposure, lassitude,
engendered pity in his souclass="underline"
he bowed to her in silence,
8 but somehow the look of his eyes
was wondrous tender. Whether
because he verily was touched
or he, coquetting, jested,
12 whether unwillfully or by free will,
but tenderness this look expressed:
it revived Tanya's heart.
XXXV
The chairs, as they are pushed back, clatter;
the crowd presses into the drawing room:
thus bees out of the luscious hive
4 fly meadward in a noisy swarm.
Pleased with the festive dinner,
neighbor in front of neighbor wheezes;
the ladies by the hearth have settled;
8 the maidens whisper in a corner;
the green-baized tables are unfolded:
to mettlesome cardplayers call
boston and omber of the old,
12 and whist, up to the present famous:
monotonous family,
all sons of avid boredom.