Tatiana trembles on the verge of writing a desperate letter:
So near the precipice, drawn onward, Before I plunge to my own destruction, Oh, let me hope, however blindly! Oh, let me taste the wine of rapture! I down the fatal draft, sweet potion That wakens longing and desire. His face, his form I cannot flee; Onward my tempter beckons me, I follow where my tempter beckons me ... To you I write, and why say more? Does not the fact speak plain enough? My heart I place within your power To crush to bits with a rebuff. Yet if you feel, however slight, A drop of pity for my plight, You'll not disdain this darkest hour. In vain I've I've struggled at concealing, Vowed never to confide The pain past hope of healing, Bitter shame, loss of pride. Within my heart until it turned to dust My secret I would hide, forever buried. But ah! The tempest tears apart my very soul; The raging fire has spread beyond control. For good or ill, I must! I must express my feeling. Our distant door why did you choose to cross? At peace, in quiet isolation, I never would have felt the loss Nor shed a tear of thwarted passion. Once past the years of green emotion, I would be satisfied -- who knows? -- In course of time to wed another, To live content as wife and mother, As tranquil as the river flows. Absurd! ... No, all my life for you I've waited; Since time first began have I been yours. By God on high was I created To love you as long as life endures. Blessed in a dream did I rejoice, For there I saw your image clear, Warm eyes to me already dear, And heard the music of your voice. A dream? No dream, I'll tell you why ... My sorrows had you not befriended? Were you not present in my prayer? Were not to you my arms extended When to the poor and sick I tended? Were you not there? Soft, from the limpid dark appearing, Did you not whisper words endearing To comfort me in time of need? A dream enchanted, pure and golden, Am I not much to you beholden? My prince upon a snowwhite steed! Are you my hope, my preservation, Or evil serpent of temptation? Resolve my doubt, oh love, reply! Oh, tell me if I go misguided, My dream a fair but phantom lie, If we must tread on paths divided ... Be as it may, my hopes and fears, My life entire I've here imparted. Do not betray these burning tears; On you I now rely To keep my secret guarded. Consider how along am I, So far from human understanding. From sheer fatigue I'm nearly fainting; Condemned to silence, I would die. I can but wait for your reply, Some indication ... A word from you decides my fate; That single word I now await, The hope that heals my heart, Or ends my dream in desolation ... I close, but dare not even read. Oh, be not angry or disgusted! In fear, and yet in faith, I plead: Receive the heart to thee entrusted.Olga, her sister, is subject to no such torments:
I was not made for melancholy; No tears and far off dreams for me, Nor gazing from my darkened window To sigh at cruel destiny! ... A fortune-favored child am I. My life is sweet, the days serene and fair. To take in all, too short the hours. For every seed of hope that flowers My heart provides sunlight and air.Lenski foresees his own death:
My hope, my youth! So soon have you departed! Oh, warmth of spring, forever gone! What comes before this day is over? Beyond the veil of nature's cover In vain I seek the mystery. No matter! What's to be will be. Should death enfold me in his keeping, Or should the bullet pass me by, God wills it thus, to live or die, A time for waking and for sleeping. He sends the dawning ray of light; He sends the shrouded dark of night. The morning star in sparkling splendor Again will crown the plains beneath; Perhaps by nightfall I shall enter into the solemn halls of death, To where the youthful poet's lyric Outlives him but a meager hour. So soon the world forgets, But you, you, Olga? ... If to my grave you come to lay a flower, To shed a tear, or pay a duty, Remember: one who loved here lies, Whose song forever glorifies The wonder of your mortal beauty. Remember then the love I bear, My hope, my blessing and reward! Oh, crystal light! Oh, breath of air! Exalted, cherished and adored ...Onegin returns from travel abroad, after vainly seeking distraction:
Eternal boredom! Social glitter, bustle and excitement Only enflame still further The past I can't forget. Since having killed the friend I treasured, I flounder, aimlessly askew; At twenty-six, I still pursue A shallow life that's all too leisured. Uprooted, minus wife and home, Abroad, in foreign towns I roam, Rootless, pausing not to ponder, My stabs at work a total loss, Possessed by constant urge to wander, I bear a strange and lonely cross. It drove me on; my native land and My own estate I soon abandoned; From each familiar hedge and tree A bleeding corpse stared back at me. In travel, searching and exploring In vain for solace and relief, I soon discovered to my grief, That novelty becomes as boring. Homeward returning, here I skip To a ballroom, barely off the ship.A devoted husband pays tribute to Tatiana:
The touch of love, through light and tender, Compels all mortals to surrender. It takes the young in summer's rage, And taps alike on ripened age. Those who know not its full extent Are robbed of life's most fragrant scent. The range and depth of my devotion Are wider, deeper than the ocean. Ill-starred, my ship had run aground; My dearest Tanya then I found; The sun emerged, the clouds retreated; In her, my purpose and my goal I saw completed. Mid worldly cunning, affectation, Mid smiles intended to deceive, The promises of short duration, The hearts worn lightly on the sleeve; Mid hypocrites that pass for pious, Mid solemn bores that petrify us. Mid flirts that vie for the response Of rich and elderly gallants; Mid verdicts callous, cold and cruel Of ugly vanity and spleen; Mid rancors hid behind a screen Of shallow talk and verbal duel, Tatiana's virtues shine the more, A star refulgent, ever flowing, A star I worship and adore. Toward her and paradise I bear a cup that's overflowing.
List of Donald Pippin's English Versions
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