Careful, puss, there’s an owl
embroidered on the chair.
Grey puss, don’t growl –
or Grandpa will hear.
The candle’s gone out;
there are mice on the stair.
I’m afraid of the owl.
Nanny, who put it there?
by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova)
(1911)
translation by Robert Chandler
