XXXI + 

He went not⁠—sooner was prepared + 

To write his forefathers to warn + 

Of his approach; but nothing cared + 

Tattiana⁠—thus the sex is born.⁠— + 

He obstinately will remain, + 

Still hopes, endeavours, though in vain. + 

Sickness more courage doth command + 

Than health, so with a trembling hand + 

A love epistle he doth scrawl. + 

Though correspondence as a rule + 

He used to hate⁠—and was no fool⁠— + 

Yet suffering emotional + 

Had rendered him an invalid; + 

But word for word his letter read. + 

Onegin’s Letter to Tattiana + 

All is foreseen. My secret drear + 

Will sound an insult in your ear. + 

What acrimonious scorn I trace + 

Depicted on your haughty face! + 

What do I ask? What cause assigned + 

That I to you reveal my mind? + 

To what malicious merriment, + 

It may be, I yield nutriment! + 

Meeting you in times past by chance, + 

Warmth I imagined in your glance, + 

But, knowing not the actual truth, + 

Restrained the impulses of youth; + 

Also my wretched liberty + 

I would not part with finally; + 

This separated us as well⁠— + 

Lenski, unhappy victim, fell, + 

From everything the heart held dear + 

I then resolved my heart to tear; + 

Unknown to all, without a tie, + 

I thought⁠—retirement, liberty, + 

Will happiness replace. My God! + 

How I have erred and felt the rod! + 

No, ever to behold your face, + 

To follow you in every place, + 

Your smiling lips, your beaming eyes, + 

To watch with lovers’ ecstasies, + 

Long listen, comprehend the whole + 

Of your perfections in my soul, + 

Before you agonized to die⁠— + 

This, this were true felicity! + 

But such is not for me. I brood + 

Daily of love in solitude. + 

My days of life approach their end, + 

Yet I in idleness expend + 

The remnant destiny concedes, + 

And thus each stubbornly proceeds. + 

I feel, allotted is my span; + 

But, that life longer may remain, + 

At morn I must assuredly + 

Know that thy face that day I see. + 

I tremble lest my humble prayer + 

You with stern countenance declare + 

The artifice of villany⁠— + 

I hear your harsh, reproachful cry. + 

If ye but knew how dreadful ’tis + 

To bear love’s parching agonies⁠— + 

To burn, yet reason keep awake + 

The fever of the blood to slake⁠— + 

A passionate desire to bend + 

And, sobbing at your feet, to blend + 

Entreaties, woes and prayers, confess + 

All that the heart would fain express⁠— + 

Yet with a feigned frigidity + 

To arm the tongue and e’en the eye, + 

To be in conversation clear + 

And happy unto you appear. + 

So be it! But internal strife + 

I cannot longer wage concealed. + 

The die is cast! Thine is my life! + 

Into thy hands my fate I yield! + 