XXX + 

God grant I meet not at a ball + 

Or at a promenade mayhap, + 

A schoolmaster in yellow shawl + 

Or a professor in tulle cap. + 

As rosy lips without a smile, + 

The Russian language I deem vile + 

Without grammatical mistakes. + 

May be, and this my terror wakes, + 

The fair of the next generation, + 

As every journal now entreats, + 

Will teach grammatical conceits, + 

Introduce verse in conversation. + 

But I⁠—what is all this to me? + 

Will to the old times faithful be. + 