Its insignificance I know

And care but little for its ends.

To dreams I long have closed mine eyes,

Yet sometimes banished hopes will rise

And agitate my heart again;

And thus it is 'twould cause me pain

Without the faintest trace to leave

This world. I do not praise desire,

Yet still apparently aspire

My mournful fate in verse to weave,

That like a friendly voice its tone

Rescue me from oblivion.

XL.

Perchance some heart 'twill agitate,

And then the stanzas of my theme

Will not, preserved by kindly Fate,

Perish absorbed by Lethe's stream.

Then it may be, O flattering tale,

Some future ignoramus shall

My famous portrait indicate

And cry: he was a poet great!

My gratitude do not disdain,

Admirer of the peaceful Muse,

Whose memory doth not refuse

My light productions to retain,

Whose hands indulgently caress

The bays of age and helplessness.

CANTO THE THIRD.

The Country Damsel 'Elle etait fille, elle etait amoureuse' - Malfilatre Canto The Third [Note: Odessa and Mikhailovskoe, 1824.]

I.

"Whither away? Deuce take the bard!" -

"Good-bye, Oneguine, I must go." -

"I won't detain you; but 'tis hard

To guess how you the eve pull through." -

"At Larina's." - "Hem, that is queer!

Pray is it not a tough affair