Dense, inpenetrable, Tatar,
drawn from God knows when,
it clings to every disaster,
itself a doom without end.
by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) a.k.a.Anna Gorenko
(1960s)
translation by Robert Chandler
Extra information: Akhmatova wrote the above piece about her pen name during her later years. When Anna Andreyevna Gorenko began publishing poetry, in her late teens, her father considered it an unrespectable pursuit and so she adopted her grandmother’s Tatar surname of Akhmatova as a pen name when publishing her works from then on as Anna Akhmatova by which name she is more commonly known.
Rambling At The Bridge Head 