Unbidden tears and its ovations,
Which young Semynova did share;
And our Katnin gave us there
Corneille's full genius resurrected;
And there the caustic Shakhovsky
Refreshed the stage with comic joy,
Didelot his crown of fame perfected.*
There too, beneath the theatre's tent,
My fleeting, youthful days were spent.
19
My goddesses! You vanished faces!
Oh, hearken to my woeful call:
Have other maidens gained your places,
Yet not replaced you after all?
Shall once again I hear your chants?
Or see the Russian muse of dance
Perform her soaring, soulful flight?
Or shall my mournful gaze alight
On unknown faces on the stages?
And when across this world I pass
A disenchanted opera glass,
Shall I grow bored with mirth and rages,
And shall I then in silence yawn
And recollect a time that's gone?
20
The theatre's full, the boxes glitter;
The restless gallery claps and roars;
The stalls and pit are all ajitter;
The curtain rustles as it soars.
And there . .. ethereal. .. resplendent,
Poised to the magic bow attendant,
A throng of nymphs her guardian band,
Istmina* takes up her stand.
One foot upon the ground she places,
And then the other slowly twirls,
And now she leaps! And now she whirls!
Like down from Eol's lips she races;
Then spins and twists and stops to beat
Her rapid, dazzling, dancing feet.
21
As all applaud, Onegin enters
And treads on toes to reach his seat;
His double glass he calmly centres
On ladies he has yet to meet.
He takes a single glance to measure
These clothes and faces with displeasure;
Then trading bows on every side
With men he knew or friends he spied,
He turned at last and vaguely fluttered
His eyes toward the stage and play
