Why is our century worse than any other?
Is it that in the stupor of fear and grief
It has plunged its fingers in the blackest ulcer,
Yet cannot bring relief?
Westward the sun is dropping,
And the roofs of towns are shining in its light.
Already death is chalking doors with crosses
And calling the ravens and the ravens are in flight.
– by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) (1919)
– from Подорожник (Plantain/Wayside Grass, 1921) translation by D. M. Thomas
The cuckoo I asked
How many years I would live… The
Pine tops shivered,
A yellow shaft fell to the grass.
In the fresh forest depths, no sound…
I am going
Home, and the cool wind
Caresses my hot brow.
– by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) (1 June, 1919)
– from Подорожник (Plantain/Wayside Grass, 1921) translation by D. M. Thomas
Now no-one will be listening to songs.
The days long prophesied have come to pass.
The world has no more miracles. Don’t break
My heart, song, but be still: you are the last.
Not long ago you took your morning flight
With all a swallow’s free accomplishment.
Now that you are a hungry beggar-woman,
Don’t go knocking at the stranger’s gate.
– by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) (1917)
– from Подорожник (Plantain/Wayside Grass, 1921) translation by D. M. Thomas
I hear the oriole’s always grieving voice,
And the rich summer’s welcome loss I hear
In the sickle’s serpentine hiss
Cutting the corn’s ear tightly pressed to ear.
And the short skirts on the slim reapers
Fly in the wind like holiday pennants,
The clash of joyful cymbals, and creeping
From under dusty lashes, the long glance.
I don’t expect love’s tender flatteries,
In premonition of some dark event,
But come, come and see this paradise
Where together we were blessed and innocent.
– by Анна Ахматова (Anna Akhmatova) (Summer, 1917)
– from Подорожник (Plantain/Wayside Grass, 1921) translation by D. M. Thomas
Rambling At The Bridge Head 