We study metastable behavior in a discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation from the viewpoint of Hamiltonian systems theory. When there are n < \infty sites in this equation, we consider initial conditions in which almost all the energy is concentrated in one end of the system. We are interested in understanding how energy flows through the system, so we add a dissipation of size \gamma at the opposite end of the chain, and we show that the energy decreases extremely slowly. Furthermore, the motion is localized in the phase space near a family of breather solutions for the undamped system. We give rigorous, asymptotic estimates for the rate of evolution along the family of breathers and the width of the neighborhood within which the trajectory is confined.
