Under an empty dwelling’s frozen roof,
Dead days. Here no living comes.
I read the acts of the Apostles
And the Psalms.
But the stars are blue, the hoar-frost downy,
And each meeting more wonderful,
And in the Bible a red maple leaf
Marks the pages of the Song of Songs.
– by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) (1915)
– from Белая стая (White Flock, 1917) translation by D. M. Thomas
